Bulletin of the American Physical Society
65th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics
Volume 57, Number 17
Sunday–Tuesday, November 18–20, 2012; San Diego, California
Session L30: Fluid Education |
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Chair: Frank Jacobitz, University of San Diego Room: 33A |
Monday, November 19, 2012 3:35PM - 3:48PM |
L30.00001: The Fluid Dynamics Demo Kit: Part I Karen Flack, Patrick Underhill, Kathy Prestridge The goal of this project is to develop a fluid dynamics demonstration/experiment kit that can be used by professors and graduate students at high school outreach events. The demonstrations in the kit will be easy to use and true crowd pleasers in order to inspire understanding and pique curiosity about the physics of flow. The kits will be inexpensive, containing readily available materials so that teachers can duplicate the demonstrations and experiments. The kits will be left with the teachers as a gift from the American Physics Society. The experiments and demonstrations cover the concepts of conservation of mass, momentum, and energy, Bernoulli's equation, frictional losses and the ideal gas law. For each experiment, the teachers will receive presentation material, access to instructional videos, plus a worksheet that can be used in a high school physics classroom. This kit has been developed through the efforts of the APS-DFD Mentoring and Outreach Committee and has received funding from the APS-DFD. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 19, 2012 3:48PM - 4:01PM |
L30.00002: The Fluid Dynamics Demo Kit: Part II Patrick Underhill, Hannah Fix, Timothy Haines, Kathy Prestridge, Karen Flack This talk will focus on the current contents and efforts building a fluid dynamics demonstration/experiment kit through the APS-DFD Mentoring and Outreach Committee and with funding from the APS DFD. The current experiments include predicting how far the water from a water gun will go, predicting how long a Heron's fountain will run, measuring the viscosity of corn syrup by measuring terminal velocity, and measuring the flow rate through a siphon. We will discuss the testing and development of these experiments and the results of field testing. Ideas for future experiments will also be discussed. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 19, 2012 4:01PM - 4:14PM |
L30.00003: Water bottle rocket in undergraduate laboratory William Schultz In the winter semester of 2012, we implemented the modeling and testing of a water bottle rocket in ME 495, the Senior Laboratory in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan. The four week lab was the most well received by the students in recent memory. There were significant challenges, but the result was a thorough review of their undergraduate fluids class with some advanced concepts such as directional stability of a projectile. The student teams designed their own rockets based on one of many standard 20 ounce soft drink bottles. The culminating contest brought impressive results and a surprise ending. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 19, 2012 4:14PM - 4:27PM |
L30.00004: Fluid Mechanics: The Pamphlet Evan Variano One impediment to student learning in introductory fluid mechanics courses is that the fundamental laws of physics can become lost in the ``noise'' of dozens of semi-empirical equations describing special cases. This can be exacerbated by trends in textbooks and other teaching media. This talk will explore a minimalist approach, whereby the entire content of introductory fluids is distilled to a single 1-page pamphlet, designed to emphasize the governing equations and their near-universal applicability. We are particularly interested in hearing feedback from the audience on ways to further distill the content while keeping it accessible and useful. To further emphasize the difference between the fundamental laws and the many specific cases, we have begun assembling a complementary resource: a field guide to fluid phenomena, which mixes the approach of Van Dyke's book with a standard field guide. This is designed to emphasize that there is a ``zoology'' of fluid phenomena, to which the same small set of fundamental laws has been applied repeatedly. These materials may be useful in helping AP Physics teachers cover fluid mechanics, which is an under-utilized opportunity to introduce young scientists to our field of study. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 19, 2012 4:27PM - 4:40PM |
L30.00005: Experience revising an advanced-undergraduate/beginning-graduate fluid mechanics textbook David Dowling In the fall of 2009, Elsevier Inc. approached me about taking over as the lead author of the fluid mechanics textbook by P. K. Kundu and I. M. Cohen. I subsequently agreed and this presentation provides the story of the process and the approach taken to revising this fluid mechanics textbook which has been in print for approximately 15 years. The goal of the revision was to produce an excellent textbook for second courses in fluid mechanics taken by advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students while maintaining the book's appeal to instructors who used prior editions. Thus, I sought to maintain or expand the text's fluid mechanics content, while adjusting the text's tone so that this content might be more readily reached by students who may have had only one prior course in fluid mechanics, or who may not specialize in fluid mechanics but do possess appropriate mathematical skills. The entire revision process involved seven steps: (i) formulating a revision plan that was independently reviewed, (ii) agreeing to a formal contract with deadlines, (iii) revising the text, figures, and front matter, (iv) proof reading and correcting copy-edited text, (v) correcting page proofs, (vi) generating the solutions manual, and (vii) tabulating errata. Formulating and executing the [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 19, 2012 4:40PM - 4:53PM |
L30.00006: Applying the results of education research to help students learn more: an update Rachel Pepper, C. Baily, M.D. Caballero, S.J. Chasteen, B. Wilcox, K.K. Perkins, S.J. Pollock Over the past 6 years, the physics faculty at the University of Colorado have worked to transform four core courses in our upper-division undergraduate physics curriculum: Classical Mechanics/Math Methods, Electricity and Magnetism I and II, and Quantum Mechanics. We discuss our transformations as a potential model for transformation of other upper-division courses, such as fluid mechanics. The goal of our transformations was to improve student learning and to develop materials and approaches that other faculty could adopt or adapt. This work began with faculty in the department meeting regularly to define explicit course learning goals, which then served as a foundation for the subsequent course transformations. The development of the curriculum was also guided by the results of observations, interviews, and analysis of student work. We applied the principles of active engagement and learning theory to transform many elements of the course. Reforms included ``clicker'' questions, tutorials, modified homeworks, and more. In this talk, we will outline the process, the reforms, and present evidence of the effectiveness of these reforms relative to traditional courses. Updates on the progress of ongoing development in Classical Mechanics/Math Methods and second semester Electricity and Magnetism as well as research-based fluid mechanics instructional materials will also be discussed. Our curriculum materials are available at http://www.colorado.edu/sei/departments/physics.htm. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 19, 2012 4:53PM - 5:06PM |
L30.00007: An intensive short course in fluid dynamics G.M. Homsy, Bruce Sutherland This talk reports on an intensive short course in fluid dynamics held recently at the Univ. of Alberta, with an emphasis on the pedagogical objectives and experiences that might be of general interest and utility. The intensive, one week course was intended to introduce students at the undergraduate and beginning graduate level to the topic. No previous exposure to fluid dynamics was assumed. The format consisted of three, 80 minute lectures and one laboratory session per day. Five lecturers (N. Balmforth, M. Flynn, I. Frigaard, G. M. Homsy, B. Sutherland, and R. Sydora) gave 2-3 lectures each, covering a range of topics. Each of three experimental and three computational labs were done by all the students during the week, working in groups of three. This talk will contain details on the lectures, labs, student feedback, and lessons learned, especially with respect to the level of presentations, preparation of labs, and dealing with the diverse backgrounds of the students. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 19, 2012 5:06PM - 5:19PM |
L30.00008: Expanding Student International Awareness Through Short-Term Study Abroad Courses With Substantial Engineering Technical Content Frank Jacobitz, Thomas Schubert The efficacy of Compact International Experience (CIE) courses is assessed in this study. These courses were developed with the aim to raise student international awareness while retaining substantial engineering technical content. The courses were motivated by a strong student desire for engineering international studies as well as a drive by the home institution for internationalization of the curriculum. The experiences gained from delivering two distinct three-semester-unit engineering elective courses in three-week time frames in France and Australia are discussed. While the two courses, Topics in Fluid Mechanics and Advanced Electronic Circuit Design, focused on their technical content, the desire for student understanding of the cultural environment and the impact of engineering solutions from a global and societal viewpoint were strong driving factors for each. Assessment validates the hypothesis that CIE courses can successfully deliver substantial engineering technical content while providing an enriching international experience to students. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 19, 2012 5:19PM - 5:32PM |
L30.00009: Computational Fluid Dynamics - Applications in Manufacturing Processes Maria Laura Beninati, Austin Kathol, Constance Ziemian A new Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) exercise has been developed for the undergraduate introductory fluid mechanics course at Bucknell University. The goal is to develop a computational exercise that students complete which links the manufacturing processes course and the concurrent fluid mechanics course in a way that reinforces the concepts in both. In general, CFD is used as a tool to increase student understanding of the fundamentals in a virtual world. A ``learning factory,'' which is currently in development at Bucknell seeks to use the laboratory as a means to link courses that previously seemed to have little correlation at first glance. A large part of the manufacturing processes course is a project using an injection molding machine. The flow of pressurized molten polyurethane into the mold cavity can also be an example of fluid motion (a jet of liquid hitting a plate) that is applied in manufacturing. The students will run a CFD process that captures this flow using their virtual mold created with a graphics package, such as SolidWorks. The laboratory structure is currently being implemented and analyzed as a part of the ``learning factory''. Lastly, a survey taken before and after the CFD exercise demonstrate a better understanding of both the CFD and manufacturing process. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 19, 2012 5:32PM - 5:45PM |
L30.00010: Teaching CFD as a Black Box: A Validation and Verification Approach Jean Hertzberg There are a number of good reasons for NOT teaching computational fluid dynamics to undergraduates: a reluctance to make room in an already-compressed curriculum, the sophistication of the computational techniques and mathematics involved, the cost of licensing a professional quality code, and above all, the danger that a shallow understanding of CFD will lead to blithely accepted incorrect results. Nevertheless, as today's students enter the workplace they are routinely expected to be able to use CFD and other high level software packages. Industry's response to the necessity of minimally trained engineers using such software is a series of tests prior to accepting the results: verification and validation (V{\&}V), or more specifically independent software verification and validation (ISVV). The verification question asks ``is the software producing correct answers, given the inputs?'' while the validation question asks ``is this the right set of inputs, are the right physics being addressed?'' A recent attempt to implement a V{\&}V approach to CFD in the required undergraduate curriculum at the University of Colorado will be described. [Preview Abstract] |
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