Hands-On Fluid Mechanics: A Laboratory Course Development Story

Fluid mechanics laboratory is a common component of mechanical engineering curricula, because hands-on experiments allow students to experience key fluid mechanics principles (such as fluid statics, Bernoulli's equation, and conservation of energy) in a meaningful way.Establishing a new laboratory course provides a unique set of challenges (building and selecting new equipment) and possibilities (creating engaging, practical learning experiences for students).This paper describes the development of the fluid mechanics laboratory class for a newly established mechanical engineering program.The course is a one-hour supplement to a three-hour lecture course.The primary objective of the course is to reinforce key fluid mechanics concepts through practical and engaging applications.Secondary objectives include emphasizing uncertainty quantification (both in measured and calculated quantities), and providing students experience in data analysis and experimental design (aligned with ABET Student Outcome #6), and technical writing.The paper outlines the evolution of the course over five iterations in a four-year span.Due to the small size of the program, the class was developed in a budget-conscious manner.In the most recent iteration, students conducted six prepared experiments: two using a small wind tunnel (measuring air speed using a Pitot tube, smoke flow visualization over an airfoil), three using an in-house pipe flow rig (measuring the efficiency of a pump, measuring friction losses in a straight pipe, measuring head loss in a 180 o turn), and one field experiment (estimating the flow rate in a creek using Bernoulli's equation).For the seventh lab, students designed and implemented their own experiment; examples of this include measuring friction losses in pipes made with different materials and measuring head loss in a hydroponics system.Experiments were conducted in groups of 3-5 students, and students submitted a report for each experiment (sometimes as a group, sometimes individually).For each experiment, students were required to report measurement uncertainty and discuss the impact of this uncertainty on their results.Student feedback suggests that the experiments -especially the field experiment and the pipe friction loss experiment -enhanced understanding of the lecture material.Future course iterations will focus on improving the propagation of uncertainty from measured quantities to calculated results, while also accounting for student workload in a one-hour course.