Dr. Andrey Bartenev - Dynamics of Spontaneous Processes
After completing high school, Andrey Bartenev studied at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. His specialty area, “the chemistry of fast processes,” was the perfect major for such a determined and ambitious student. After graduating with high honors, he wrote a doctor’s thesis investigating the physical and chemical processes in “closed spaces,” primarily engines and turbines. He was also very interested in the types of damage, including cracks and fractures, that can occur when such machines are subjected to high stress loads.
Bartenev’s career continued at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Chemical Physics between 1987 and 2005, where he specialized in flow characteristics and the simulation of combustion processes and explosions. He consequently wrote a post-doctorate thesis on the gas dynamics of spontaneous processes. Bartenev often engaged in research abroad, including two research projects at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, for example, and time spent in England and the U.S., where he and colleagues conducted experiments for NASA focusing on various aspects of explosions. “When I then heard Siemens was setting up its own research center in Russia, I applied for a position right away,” he recalls. Bartenev already was familiar with Siemens from his days at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
From 2005 to mid-2010, he and his tenmember team at CT Russia intensively researched oil and gas production technologies. Bartenev is currently director of the Nuclear Technologies Global Technology Field. He can put his special expertise, the chemistry of fast processes, to good use for research into nuclear technologies, for as he puts it, “The conversion of heat is also the subject of a lot of research concerning nuclear power plants.” Focal points include concepts for fourth generation nuclear reactors – new types of reactors that won’t reach market maturity for several years – and the transport and storage of nuclear material. With demand for energy growing rapidly in some countries, many experts are predicting a renaissance of nuclear power. Bartenev agrees, and he hopes to make important contributions with his team to ensuring that a new generation of nuclear power plants can produce electricity safely, efficiently, and in an environmentally compatible manner. So it looks like Bartenev, who has an eight-year-old son, will continue to have little time in the future to pursue his hobbies – diving and studying Russian history.