Design of hydraulic’ tools for students’ practicum

Abstract

Fluid mechanics and hydraulics subject is a subject that explains the concepts of the nature of fluids (liquids and gases) when stationary or moving, or when interacting with other fluids or solid objects. One of the courses in this subject related to hydraulics is about open channels. Many students have difficulties understanding this material and not able to describe abstract concepts because they were not doing experiments with the open channel. The purpose of this research is to develop hydraulic devices for open channels that can be used by students for practicum. The methods used to develop these tools are the study of literature, determination of design concepts, exploration of design scenarios, toolmaking, testing, evaluation, and improvement the tools. These tools are also equipped with a microcontroller to regulate water flow, the slope of the water-retaining plate to display hydraulic jumps and adjust the pump power. The test results show that the tool can provide consistent results, both from flowrate, weir overflow coefficient, and Froude numbers.