Introducing CFD and Wind Tunnel Testing in an Undergraduate Fluid Mechanics Course

Abstract

CFD is following the trend of CAD and FEA to undergraduate education especially with recent advances in commercial codes. It will soon take its place as an expected skill for new engineering graduates. CFD was added as a component to an experiment in a junior level fluid mechanics course. The objectives were to introduce CFD, as an analysis tool, to the students and to support the theoretical concepts of the course. The students were asked to complete an experimental two-dimensional study for a wing in a wind tunnel, to use CFD to simulate the flow, and to predict the aerodynamic lift using CFD as well as the experimentally obtained pressure distribution. In addition, they had to compare their results to published data for the studied wing. Details of the course, the wind tunnel test and the CFD simulations are presented. Samples from the students’ work are used in the discussion. The lab activities were successfully completed by the students and the learning objectives were well addressed. One of the valuable outcomes from this lab was the opportunity for the students to integrate multiple fluid mechanics analysis tools and learn about the limits for each tool. CFD also enhanced the learning in the lab activities and increased students’ interest in the subject.