Teaching Advanced Fluids Engineering and CFD

As CFD technology matures, there is increasing need for undergraduate CFD education. CFD allows the undergraduate student to calculate flow features that are beyond the scope of concepts covered in introductory courses. In this paper it is shown how the teaching of CFD and fluid mechanics can be integrated in a senior level course to develop professional practitioners of CFD. The course uses techniques like CFD visualization and a case study approach to reinforce student understanding of physical features of complex fluid flows. Full advantage is taken of the physical basis of the finite volume method to connect the structure of discrete equation sets, solution accuracy and iterative convergence trends to the features of simulated flows. The success that students achieve in developing and integrating CFD and fluid mechanics knowledge is measured in a final project in which CFD is used to evaluate a proposed design change.