Title: Hands-on integrated CFD educational interface for introductory fluids mechanics

Authors: Frederick Stern; Hyunse Yoon; Donald Yarbrough; Murat Okcay; Bilgehan Uygar Oztekin; Breigh Roszelle

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, The University of Iowa, 223C SHL, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA. ' IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering, The University of Iowa, 223B-2 SHL, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA. ' Department of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations, The University of Iowa, 210 Linguist Center, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA. ' Interactive Flow Studies Corporation, P.O. Box 784, Waterloo, IA, 50704, USA. ' Interactive Flow Studies Corporation, P.O. Box 784, Waterloo, IA, 50704, USA. ' Interactive Flow Studies Corporation, P.O. Box 784, Waterloo, IA, 50704, USA

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: hands-on labs; CFD-EFD integration; CFD educational interface; CFD process; EFD process; ePIV; Flowcoach; uncertainty analysis; course evaluation; computational fluid dynamics; experimental fluid dynamics; fluids engineering; fluid mechanics education.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAD.2012.049127

International Journal of Aerodynamics, 2012 Vol.2 No.2/3/4, pp.339 - 371

Published online: 31 Oct 2014 *

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