Pedagogical Interventions in CFD Theory and Lab Courses for Energy Systems Engineering Graduate Programme

Abstract

Use of simulation software packages based on numerical techniques has been relatively cheaper, faster and normally more ethical than conduct of realtime experiments. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) that basically evolved through application of numerical techniques to physical laws of conservation of mass, momentum and energy. CFD has revolutionized solution to fluid flow, heat transfer, mass transfer and other multidisciplinary problems. CFD requires a strong mathematical base with the thorough understanding of physics behind the problems. The present work deals with delivery and assessment of CFD concepts through the theory and laboratory courses for students of Graduate Program inE nergy Systems Engineering.

The delivery and assessment of the CFD courses targeted the attainment of the Graduate Attributes (GA) PO2, PO4, PO5 and PO6 prescribed for the graduate programme.

The results of pedagogical initiatives in teaching this course to heterogeneous student group imposed few challenges in delivery due to only 37.5% of the group being familiar to the course prerequisites while 62.5% of the group was alien to these concepts. The results indicated that meticulous planning and execution of the courses to the diverse group resulted in the overall average score of 61.4% and 82.04% in theory and lab course respectively.