PCBased Teaching Tools for Fluid Mechanics

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PC-Based Teaching Tools for Fluid Mechanics

• Dr. S. U. Rahman, Mr. N. M. Tukur and Mr. I. Khan
• Department of Chemical Engineering
• King Fahd University of Petroleum Minerals
• Dhahran-31261.

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Induction of Computers in Engineering Education

• Phase 1
• HW based on FORTRAN, BASIC
• HW based on math toolse.g., MATHEMATICA, MAPPLE
  or MATHCAD
• Demonstration of simulation packages,e. g.,
  CHEMSHARE or PROCESS
• Phase 2
• Systematic teaching of
• Math tools
• Simulation packages
• Spreadsheets
• For example ChE-325

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Induction of Computers in Engg. Education
(Contd.)

• Phase 3
• Interactive multimedia teaching tools
• Stand-alone applications
• Interactive web pages
• Virtual labs
• Distant learning
• Web based courses (e.g. WebCT, Blackboard etc)

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What is a Virtual Laboratory?

• Computer program that simulates or runs actual
  experiments
• Three kinds of Virtual Labs
• A. Virtually Real Labs.
• B. Actual Labs Run from a Remote Location
• C. Simulated Experiments

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Shortcomings of Traditional Labs
The overall effect is A students comes to the
lab. The Instructor tells him to perform certain
steps. He exactly repeats, gets data and heads
home.

• Limited Interactivity
• Pre-designed experiments
• Tedious procedures
• Longer experimentation time
• Physical limitations
• Expensive equipment

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Advantages of Virtual Labs.

• Ease of Operation
• Availability
• Provides Bigger Range of Parameters
• Safer
• Readily Available Help and Theoretical Background
• Inexpensive

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How should a virtual lab be utilized?

• As a teaching aid in the class room
• In conjunction with actual experiments
• As a learning tool by students
• As a replacement of actual experiments

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How will the students benefit?

• Makes Learning an Easy Process.
• Enhances Learning Through Interactivity and Ease
• Provides Possibility to Create Impossible
  Situation That May Be Pedagogically Important.

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Distribution of Virtual Labs.

• In the Actual Labs.
• In the PC-Labs
• On departments/instructors laptop
• From the Departments WebPage
• Should be integrated with WebCT

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What has been done?

• Virtual Fluid Mechanics Lab
• Experiment 1 Losses in Piping Systems
• Experiment 2 Flow through Packed Beds
• Experiment 3 Flow in Fluidized Beds
• Experiment 4 Flowmeter Calibration

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Tools

• Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0
• Microsoft FrontPage 2000
• Adobe Photoshop
• Macromedia Flash
• Sound Recorder

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Current use of the V-Lab

• In use for
• ChE-204 Process Fluid Mechanics( Two sections)
• ChE-309 Chemical Engineering Lab(6 sections)
• Eight different instructors
• Approximately 80 students

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The Response..

• Currently available on all machines in ChE PC-Lab
• Received very well
• By ChE- faculty at KFUPM
• By ChE-Faculty at JIC Jubail
• By attendees of an international conference
• Recommended by the lab instructors to be included
  in ChE-309
• A survey will be done near the mid of this
  semester

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Demonstration of ChE Virtual Laboratory for Fluid
Mechanics
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Conclusions and Recommendations

• PC-Based teaching aids allows students to carry
  out interactive experiments at anytime from
  anywhere with ease.
• They could be used in class room teaching.
• Remaining experiments from ChE-309 and ChE-409
  and other obscure concepts should be added.
• Once ready it should be made available to
  students through university web and in the actual
  lab.

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THANK YOU.
Visit us at http//www.kfupm.edu.sa/che/virtua
llab.html