A Fourth Year Experimental Course in the Measurement of Unsteady and Turbulent Flows

ABSTRACT: An experimental course has been developed to introduce undergraduate students to modern experimental techniques and instrumentation used in fluid mechanics, and particularly in turbulence. The aim of the course is to teach students to design, plan, execute and report an experiment of scientific quality. They should also gain the ability to choose which tool is right for the specific problem at hand. Additional desired outcomes are to enable them to evaluate the experiments of others, as well as to learn to use published data in a critical way. The course has been given twice, 2003 and 2004, and is divided into three parts: lectures and extensive project work at Chalmers in Sweden plus an additional short hands-on segment with state-of-the-art equipment at DTU (The Technical University of Denmark). The first provides a solid fundamental theoretical base, the second (carried out in parallel) applies this knowledge through extensive project work on a single experiment. In the third part at DTU, the students use state-of-the-art experimental techniques (e.g., PIV, LIF, LDA) and execute a series of pre-arranged experiments. The course has been very well received by the students, and (based on the very positive reaction of employers and thesis advisors) appears to provide a good base for their future.