Monday, March 31, 2008

Welcome to my teaching Blog...

Hi,

This will be my teaching blog.

Unlike my other blogs, this blog will be dedicated entirely to my teaching of Fluid Mechanics to Diploma in Chemical Engineering in Singapore Polytechnic.

Fluid Mechanics Chapter 1 Activity


Lesson Part 1


Activity 1


Do a search for the words Fluids, Shear Force, Shear Stress, Viscosity on

Search 1

Search 2

Activity 2

Click here for the second activity.


Activity 3


Gases 1
Read Kinectic Theory I
Set No of particles to 16, Grid = large
Run
Record what you observe

Gases 2
Stop the simulation
Set Volume to Max
Set Heater temperature to minimum
Run and observe velocity distribution pattern
Stop simulation, set heater temperature to maximum
Run simulation and observe velocity distribution
Repeat with changing gravity and volume (half).
Record what you observe.

Complete the survey below:
Questions

Lesson Part 2

Activity 4
Try the animation listed in the website below to see what VISCOSITY means to a layman...
Try Me

So, to test your understanding, answer the following question.
Viscosity Question

What is Viscosity?

Activity 5

Website

To help you in your learning of today's lecture...

Take 1 - 2 minutes now to enter, using the comments icon below, what you think is:
1. The most important point and
2. The "muddiest" part of today's lecture.

I'll look at it and post my reply to you one way or another...

End of Lesson One

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Fluid Mechanics Chapter 2 Activity

Additional materials of interest to you on nomographs.
Click here!

Activity 1

Complete the pre lesson survey here!


Activity 2

Part 1: Read about quicksand from the following website "How Stuff Works"

Part 2: Watch the following video on Youtube

Video 1

Video 2 (Brainiac)

D3O

Answer the following questions
Question

Now, before you go...
Take 1-2 minutes again to write down
1. The most important in today's lecture and
2. The "muddiest" part in today's lecture.

End of Chapter 2

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Fluid Mechanics Chapter 3 Activity

Review of Chapter 2 muddiest questions

Fluid statics has 2 important principles. I will reinforce them again with an example before I start Chapter 3.

Basically, the two principles are

P=density x gravity x height; and


Pressure along the same horizontal line of a fluid connected together anywhere is the same.

Try the review question in Activity 1 below to see if you "got it"...

Activity 1


Review the following questions

Question


Activity 2

Search for examples of Boundary Layers

(Note especially "large" examples - atmosphere and surface of the earth...)

Search 1

Search 2

Record your observations.


Now, before you go...
Take 1-2 minutes again to write down
1. The most important in today's lecture and
2. The "muddiest" part in today's lecture.


End of Chapter 3


Friday, March 28, 2008

Fluid Mechanics Chapter 4 Activity


Activity 1

Review questions for Boundary Layer
Here!

Activity 2
View the following from How Stuff Works
Tornados

Activity 3
Review the following website on how a roof can be ripped off a building
Roof
Answer the following question after you have reviewed it.
Question

Activity 4
Review the final website on an aspirator experiment.
Aspirator
(Click on" Show Movie" at the end of the website)

Reflect on what you have learned today.
How was Bernoulli's Equation applied in the Aspirator experiment?

Now, before you go...
Take 1-2 minutes again to write down
1. The most important in today's lecture and
2. The "muddiest" part in today's lecture.

End of Chapter 4


Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Fluid Mechanics Chapter 5 Activity

Activity 1

Use a suitable search engine and search for information on these 2 persons

1. Henry Darcy

2. Julius Weisbach

3. L F Moody

Record their major contributions to science here. Click this!

Good website summarising of Bernoulli's Equation here!

Activity 2

Summarise what you have learned so far by working out the Reynolds Number and friction factor for the problem listed in the power point slide. (Use viscosity of water at 30 deg C to be 0.00085 kg/m.s)

Pressure loss calculator here

Take this short quiz to find out how much you learned so far...FMAChp5A2


Activity 3
Now you are ready to tackle more complicated problems...

Activity 4
Hmm, the mother of all type of problems. If you can solve this, you have no problems with this chapter...
This is a 2 tank problem. Very typical of a real world situation.

Before you go...2 points again for your reflection
1. What is the main point in this lesson?
2. What is the the most muddy part of the lecture?

End of Lesson 5

Monday, March 24, 2008

Fluid Mechanics Chapter 6 Activity

Hydraulic Grade Line
Use this website to see what is the meaning of HGL...
Explanation of HGL

Try the above url again...


Activity 1

Use your search engine to find out what is

- Darcy Weisbach Equation
- Minor Loss and Equivalent Length

Activity 2
Minor Loss Coefficients
More Minor Loss Coefficients

Activity 3
Use this tool to consolidate your understanding (highly rated...)
HGL Visualisation Tool

Help for Economic Pipe Diameter

Before you go...2 points again for your reflection
1. What is the main point in this lesson?
2. What is the the most muddy part of the lecture?

End of Lesson 6

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Fluid Mechanics Chapter 7 Activity

Activity 1

Here's a good website that describes the venturi effect graphically...
Venturi Effect

Review general theories on Flow Meter here!


Activity 2

Venturi flow calculators

Orifice flow calculators

Activity 3

Before you go....

1. What is the most important part in the lesson?

2. Which part is the most muddy?