Mechanical engineering with solidwork flow simulation improving and supporting undergraduate student learning in mechanical engineering courses: Fluid dynamic course

Abstract

The computer-aided design programs such as Solidwork flow simulation (SWFS) provide powerful, engaging, hands-on software to understand and develop designs for the real world. SWFS can be considered as a virtual laboratory. The purpose of this study is to show that using SWFS will help the undergraduate students to understand the concepts of fluid dynamic course in the Mechanical Engineering Department. This paper presents an example of the effect of both the temperature and density on the stream flow characteristics around a vertical axis wind turbine using SWFS. Moreover, the use of the SWFS in engineering education is shown by an important experiment taken from the field of mechanical engineering.Keywords: Fluid dynamic, mechanical engineering, SWFS, virtual laboratory.