Basic Elements in a Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Experience: An Engineering Science Approach

The academic situation due to the COVID-19 lockdown forced teachers to transform conventional lessons to a fully online mode. The experimental component of chemical engineering degrees is an essential part of the courses, wherein the students usually attend a pilot plant and develop practical skills in a hands-on way. The present study shows the different methodologies developed and implemented during three academic years in the experimental component of two courses: fluid mechanics and heat transfer. Therefore, the year 2018–2019 represents a conventional scenario, in which the lessons and evaluation were conducted in a traditional mode (face-to-face). Later, the cessation of on-site teaching in the middle of the year 2019–2020 compelled the teaching staff to adapt methodologies to a distance mode. This transformation was based on the creation of new learning material: explanatory videos, online seminars, solved exercises and online tests. Finally, the end of the lockdown in the year 2020–2021 allowed the return to a mixed mode (face-to-face lessons in addition to online lessons), which enabled the redesign of the experimental part of the courses. After the end of the courses, the usefulness of the implemented methodologies was evaluated by means of collecting academic marks and student surveys. The results show that, in general, the yields were similar during the three years studied, except in the lockdown period of the fluid mechanics course in which it was slightly higher than the others. With regard to the opinion of the students, their feedback about the transformations made was generally positive.

This paper details the conversion of a large, required Civil Engineering fluid mechanics course into a more student-centered, active learning-oriented course through the flipping of one lecture per week. In the flipped class, students collaboratively solve homework problems in groups while receiving “expert” feedback from instructors and TAs. To offset the lost lectures, some course material that has been delivered in traditional lectures has been placed online in the form of short videos and textbook readings, with low-stakes quizzes for assessment. Student learning gains were quantitatively assessed by comparing quiz and final exam scores for three semesters (1 pre-flip and 2 post-flip). To maintain some element of consistency across the course transformation, a comprehensive, multiple-choice final exam has served to provide quantitative metrics on which the course improvement can be gaged. In addition, quiz questions remained relatively similar across semesters. One-way ANOVAs revealed a statically significant difference on quiz performance, with post-flip students performing better than those in pre-flip semesters. In addition, students in the final iteration of the course transformation significantly outperformed previous students on final exams by about 7%. Taken together, the numbers suggest that the process of flipping a large fluid mechanics course is associated with small but positive improvements to quiz and final exam performance. However, it is best to rely on other indicators beyond course performance in order to more accurately depict the impact of a course transformation. To supplement the results of the quantitative analyses, student comments about the course and instructor observations of the transformation implementation were assessed. Students found the work sessions to be very effective, enjoyed collaborating with peers and the instructor, and thought the online videos were helpful. The instructor indicated that the benefits of the flipped class include the following: heightened student engagement during class periods; greatly increased instructor awareness of student perceptions, challenges, personal issues, and conceptual bottlenecks; eventual reduction in instructor preparation time; improved instructor-student relationships; and a better focus on more important course objectives.

In a classroom environment, after a comprehensive theoretical discussion of compressible flows, it is beneficial to conduct a visual experiment in which students can observe these flows and some of the features associated with them. Experimental study of compressible fluid dynamics is associated with high equipment costs; therefore, conducting an experiment is not feasible for some colleges. This article describes an experiment implemented at Manhattan College upper division and graduate fluid dynamics courses at a relatively low cost. In the experiment, a water table hydraulic analogy was used. Theoretical considerations of this analogy are explained in this article. An area–velocity relation was used to study the Mach number at the exit of a Laval nozzle. The theory and measurement came within 10% of each other, which is sufficient for a teaching demonstration. This exercise can be conducted in two class sessions: (1) discussing the theoretical considerations and (2) performing the experiment and analyzing data. The overall experience is a good way to help students understand some of the compressible flow features, and further promote their interest in fluid mechanics.

With the advancement of global engineering education standardization, the teaching quality and talent cultivation model for applied undergraduate civil engineering programs urgently require optimization. As a core course in civil engineering, fluid mechanics has long suffered from issues such as the disconnect between theory and practice, monotonous teaching methods, and an imperfect assessment system, making it difficult to effectively cultivate students 'engineering practice capabilities and innovative thinking. Based on the OBE (Outcome-Based Education) philosophy, this paper proposes a series of curriculum reform strategies for fluid mechanics courses, including clarifying learning outcomes, optimizing syllabi, adopting seminar-style teaching models, improving assessment systems, and strengthening faculty development. The reform practices demonstrate that this approach significantly enhances students' self-directed learning abilities, practical operational skills, and innovative thinking capabilities. It provides robust support for cultivating engineering application-oriented talents while offering valuable references for curriculum reforms in other engineering disciplines.

Through simple flow visualization experiments, it is possible to introduce students to research in fluid mechanics during their first fluid mechanics course. Our visual sense is so powerful that in an instant we can often grasp both the big picture and the detail. To quote Richard Feynman, considered to be one of the top scientists of the 20th century, ‘fundamental questions can be easily answered just by looking at the thing‘. One should know, however, precisely how to look, analyze and investigate visually. Interesting small-scale fluid motion may be observed and photographed to reveal fundamental processes in an inexpensive and team-building manner that builds confidence, gives students skills for lifelong learning, and prepares them for graduate research. This paper presents our students' experience.

A fluids laboratory experience that introduces students to dimensional analysis and similitude was designed and performed in a junior-level first course in fluid mechanics. After students are given an introduction to dimensional analysis, the technique is applied to the phenomenon of vortex shedding from a cylinder in cross-flow. With help from the instructor, lab groups use dimensional analysis to ascertain the relevant dimensionless pi terms associated with the phenomenon. After successfully determining that the pi terms are the Strouhal number and the Reynolds number, experiments are performed to elucidate the general functional relationship between the dimensionless groups. To conduct the experiments, a wind-tunnel apparatus is used in conjunction with a Pitot tube for measurements of free stream velocity and a platinum-plated tungsten hot-wire anemometer for rapid (up to 400 kHz) measurements of velocity fluctuations downstream of the cylinder. Utilizing an oscilloscope in parallel with a high-speed data acquisition system, students are able to determine the vortex shedding frequency by performing a spectral analysis (via Fourier transform) of the downstream velocity measurements at multiple free stream velocities and for multiple cylinder diameters (thus a varying Reynolds number). The students’ experimental results were found to agree with relationships found in the technical literature, showing a constant Strouhal number of approximately 0.2 over a wide range of Reynolds numbers. This exercise not only gives students valuable experience in dimensional analysis and design of experiments, it also provides exposure to modern data acquisition and analysis methods.

The development, implementation, and evaluation of an effective curriculum for students to learn integrated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experimental fluid dynamics (EFD) is described. The CFD objective is to teach students CFD methodology and procedures through a step-by-step CFD process using a CFD educational interface for hands-on student experience. The EFD objective is to teach students use of modern facilities, measurement systems including ePIV and Flowcoach, and uncertainty analysis (UA), following a step-by-step EFD process for fluids engineering experiments. Students analyse and relate CFD and EFD results to fluid physics and classroom lectures, including teamwork and presentation of results. Implementation is described based on results for an introductory level fluid mechanics course, which includes integrated CFD and EFD laboratories for the same geometries and conditions. An independent evaluation investigates and reports the learning outcomes and the effectiveness of the CFD educational interface, ePIV, Flowcoach and CFD and EFD laboratories.

Effective E-learning distributed environments should promote high cooperation. Workflow techniques can certainly contribute to such effectiveness as the creation and delivery of learning contents are typically accomplished by groups of individuals executing specific and predefined sequences of activities. Reusable learning objects (RLO or LO) also play an important role in this context as learning content is broken into smaller parts to facilitate deployment and execution assignment. Additionally, some LO may require high levels of computation as in the case of simulations in hemodynamics in a fluid mechanics course. In order to cope with such an application, we envisioned a workflow-based learning management system (LMS) using Web services as the communication infrastructure allied to the computational power of the Grid.

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract Division of Experimental and Laboratory Oriented Studies Session 1526 A Laser-Based Flow Visualization System for Fluid Mechanics Instruction John P. Crimaldi, Daniel W. Knight University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado 80309 Abstract An interactive turbulent water flow facility and laser-based flow visualization system are used to reinforce fundamental concepts in the instruction of fluid mechanics. For this pilot study, the laboratory instructional module was incorporated into a single topic within the curriculum of a graduate-level fluid mechanics course. The laboratory treatment was used in addition to a traditional lecture-based treatment of the topic. Assessment methods including a content knowledge test and attitude surveys were used to examine the impact of the module on student learning and interest in engineering. Results revealed that the instructional module had added value over the lecture for increasing students’ content knowledge (+50%). In addition, the visualization module received a significantly higher rating on the attitude survey than the lecture method for level of enjoyment, learning of content, and the development of interest in engineering. Introduction One of the principal challenges of teaching fluid mechanics is the level of abstraction that comes with the subject. Students tend to be more familiar with, and have better intuition for, the behavior of solids. Fluids move in complex and beautiful patterns, but the flow is often difficult to see with the naked eye. Despite the fact that we spend our lives immersed in a fluid (air), many fundamental fluid behaviors remain unfamiliar to students due to the difficulty in observing them. For example, we tell students that air in the classroom is turbulent, yet their acceptance of this is more an act of faith than an act of learning. Some fluid flow phenomena are more readily visible in liquids than in gasses, but this is usually true only at a free surface (an interface between a liquid and a gas), where flow-induced deformations of the free surface reveal information about the flow. Away from the free surface, most flow phenomena (e.g. turbulence, flow around obstacles, boundary layers, etc.) remain essentially invisible. To counter the level of abstraction associated with difficulties in viewing fluid motion, we built an interactive flow facility with a laser-based visualization system that enables students to directly observe a wide range of flow phenomena. The present research effort is a pilot study of the impact of the facility on student learning and attitudes. Students were exposed to content on the topic of Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

Computer programming assignments in technical courses often involve the instructor choosing a given problem from the text and requiring the students to write a program to solve that problem. While this approach provides the student with an opportunity to improve some skills, there may be more effective approaches. This paper discusses an approach that initially gives the student only a narrative describing a company’s set of circumstances. The class then discusses how the situation might be improved using computer applications. Through discussion, a set of parameters for the application is developed. By the end of the discussion, the application that will help the company has been defined by the students. The required features and the desirable features are identified. The outcome of the discussion becomes the computer assignment. When used in a fluid mechanics course by the author, the approach yielded many benefits. The students a) had personal ownership in the assignment, b) were able to see the true power of the computer in automating a repetitive process, c) developed logic and critical thinking abilities, and d) solved a problem similar to ones they will face upon graduation.

The fundamentals of the mechanics of multiphase media are presented here for the first time within the framework of a course in fluid mechanics. This new branch of mechanics has appeared comparatively recently, about 40 years ago, in connection with the development of aerospace technology, nuclear power, and new technologies. At present, the general principles of the construction of the models of the mechanics of multiphase media have been formulated, and there are numerous applications. While presenting the material, we have aimed on the one hand to familiarize the reader with the mathematical models, which are applied for the description of various multiphase media, and on the other hand, to give an insight into the specific physical phenomena occurring in these media. Since the mechanics of multiphase media now enjoy a rapid development, the material of the present chapter does not have such a full-blown character as in the foregoing chapters. It will enable the reader to rapidly enter the details and become familiar with problems in the field of the mechanics of multiphase media.KeywordsShock WaveMach NumberIncident Shock WaveLaval NozzleMultiphase MediumThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Condensing 40 years of teaching experience, this unique textbook will provide students with an unrivalled understanding of the fundamentals of fluid mechanics, and enable them to place that understanding firmly within a biological context. Each chapter introduces, explains, and expands a core concept in biofluid mechanics, establishing a firm theoretical framework for students to build upon in further study. Practical biofluid applications, clinical correlations, and worked examples throughout the book provide real-world scenarios to help students quickly master key theoretical topics. Examples are drawn from biology, medicine, and biotechnology with applications to normal function, disease, and devices, accompanied by over 500 figures to reinforce student understanding. Featuring over 120 multicomponent end-of-chapter problems, flexible teaching pathways to enable tailor-made course structures, and extensive Matlab and Maple code examples, this is the definitive textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students studying a biologically-grounded course in fluid mechanics.

Condensing 40 years of teaching experience, this unique textbook will provide students with an unrivalled understanding of the fundamentals of fluid mechanics, and enable them to place that understanding firmly within a biological context. Each chapter introduces, explains, and expands a core concept in biofluid mechanics, establishing a firm theoretical framework for students to build upon in further study. Practical biofluid applications, clinical correlations, and worked examples throughout the book provide real-world scenarios to help students quickly master key theoretical topics. Examples are drawn from biology, medicine, and biotechnology with applications to normal function, disease, and devices, accompanied by over 500 figures to reinforce student understanding. Featuring over 120 multicomponent end-of-chapter problems, flexible teaching pathways to enable tailor-made course structures, and extensive Matlab and Maple code examples, this is the definitive textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students studying a biologically-grounded course in fluid mechanics.

Dimensional analysis is taught early in an undergraduate curriculum for mechanical engineering, usually during the very first course in fluid mechanics. Such analysis has its roots in the work of Lord Rayleigh, and the mechanics of the process as typically taught to undergraduates follows directly from the classic paper due to Buckingham on what is now known as the Pi Theorem. Students are meant to learn that dimensional analysis is a powerful tool for: developing insight with respect to flow physics, creating new models of physical processes, guiding the performance of experiments and flowfield simulations, aiding the sensible presentation of technical results, and fostering the replication of experiments and simulations. Unfortunately, the usual method for finding non-dimensional products taught to undergraduates requires the selection of scaling variables that can seem arbitrary and the solution of a number of sets of simultaneous equations that is typically tedious and prone to simple errors of arithmetic. As a consequence, students often fail to gain the intended appreciation for the usefulness of dimensional analysis. Fortunately, another technique for forming Π products that does not suffer from these same drawbacks was presented by the late Prof. B. S. Massey of University College London. This paper is intended to disseminate his so-called “step-by-step method” to a wider audience and thus to encourage the adoption of the technique for use in undergraduate curricula.

Student-centered, output-oriented and continuous improvement education is the fundamental idea of engineering professional certification.Those philosophy should be thoroughly applied throughout the whole training program, the establishment of training objectives, curriculum system, graduation requirements, teaching evaluation and quality assurance system all shall fit the demand of engineering professional certification.Under the consideration of combining the teaching mode reform with daily education activities and engineering professional certification, combining the teaching mode reform with the development of "new engineering", it is necessary to carry out in-depth reform of fluid mechanics course, to summarize all kinds of reform and to apply them in practice, for continuously improvement.