Title: A best practices guide to CFD education in the undergraduate curriculum

Authors: Jeff D. Eldredge; Inanc Senocak; Paul Dawson; James Canino; William W. Liou; Ray LeBeau; Darren L. Hitt; Markus P. Rumpfkeil; Russell M. Cummings

Addresses: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA ' Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA ' Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA ' Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Trine University, Angola, IN, USA ' Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA ' Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Parks College, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, USA ' Mechanical Engineering and Program Head, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA ' Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, USA ' Department of Aeronautics, US Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO, USA

Abstract: The AIAA Fluid Dynamics Technical Committee formed a working group in 2010 to explore how to include computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in undergraduate education. The following article is the best practices guide resulting from that working group, and is intended to guide the development of CFD instructional content in undergraduate aerospace and mechanical engineering curricula. The article addresses a growing need for new engineers to become 'intelligent users' of CFD: that is, to be able to obtain a solution of a flow, and to critically assess the quality of the result. The article distils the concepts of CFD into curricular elements, and establishes reasonable expected outcomes for undergraduate-level instruction of these concepts. It then provides numerous case studies of existing CFD courses, presented in a hierarchy of various 'profiles' - from CFD light to CFD heavy - for inclusion in courses with lecture, laboratory or design formats. Specific needs of mechanical engineering programmes are also discussed. Hardware, software, and textbook resources are also briefly reviewed.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics; computational aerodynamics; engineering education; best practice; CFD education; undergraduate curriculum; higher education; aerospace engineering; mechanical engineering.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAD.2014.067580

International Journal of Aerodynamics, 2014 Vol.4 No.3/4, pp.200 - 236

Published online: 28 Feb 2015 *

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