Project Description:
Having a hands-on lab component to fluid dynamics courses has always been an important part of the pedagogy. However, traditional instruction has required expensive room-sized equipment that is used by relatively large groups, limiting the time for exploration and real understanding of the important principles. The goal of this VIP project is to develop a series of instructional kits that can be purchased by individual students and used at home, permitting a more creative and individualized exploration of the material, and a greater sense of ownership and depth of understanding. Although intended to support college-level fluid dynamics courses, there are opportunities to generalize to K-12 as well.
The kits that are planned or in development include: manometry, propulsion thrust stand, wind tunnel with force balance, pipe flow losses, fan/pump characteristics, and flow separation and form drag. The kits are enabled by the recent development of high-power ducted fans, inexpensive DC power supplies, and inexpensive motor controllers. The tasks prioritized for this project include: development and iterative refinement of prototypes, 3D printing of prototypes, development and testing of lab handouts for student assembly instructions and test instructions, conducting focus sessions with student groups to improve the product, sourcing appropriate off-the-shelf components, and developing final parts for injection molding for at scale deployment.
