A Studio Model for Teaching Undergraduate Heat Transfer

Robert J. Ribando, Engineering (Mechanical)

1995 TTI Fellow

Project website: http://www.people.virginia.edu/~rjr/modules/

Before the advent of the digital computer, differential equations that describe physical processes were solved tediously using analytical techniques. Often the solutions were evaluated using mechanical calculators and graphed or tabulated for use in engineering design. While convenient and the only feasible approach at the time, these solutions and a few assigned homework problems making use of them rarely build any physical insight at all. In 1995 those same equations as well as far more complicated ones often can be approximated and solved in a matter of seconds on an inexpensive desktop computer. More importantly, relatively simple, but creative, graphical depictions of the solutions can aid greatly in actually understanding the physical principles underlying the process. The course which is the focus of Mr. Ribando's TTI project has generally been taught in a three-lecture-a-week format with a related laboratory taken the following semester-too late for timely reinforcement of lecture material. Under the new format to be initiated in the Spring semester of 1996, there will be two lectures a week plus a two-hour studio session in the new Wilson Hall facilities. In the studio session students will perform a variety of computer-facilitated design and analysis activities. Some weeks they will do "virtual" experiments using computational simulations of heat transfer processes, actually taking data from the screen display with the mouse for later analysis. They will see and use modern visualization techniques similar to what they will routinely encounter in real world engineering. Unlike commercial software packages which are designed for ease of use rather than instructional value, these studio exercises will generally require preliminary "pencil and paper" analysis and provide training in the verification and interpretation of results as well. Other weekly exercises will demonstrate the use of computer-aided solutions in the design process, allowing plenty of "what if?" calculations in minimum time. Mr. Ribando's project makes use of modern numerical algorithms and visualization software previously developed in his graduate teaching and research. Fortran 77 and 90 are being used for the "number crunching," while attractive user-interfaces are being developed in Visual Basic. Many of the modules being developed will be sufficiently general that they may be used in a variety of other related courses, both undergraduate and graduate.