HANDS-ON EXPERIMENTATION IN THE FLUID MECHANICS CLASSROOM AS HOMEWORK WITH EFLUIDS.COM

ABSTRACT In an introductory fluid mechanics course, it is important for students to realize that the mathematical models they are deriving in class sometimes model the real world well and sometimes not so well. One way to demonstrate this is to have the students model a simple experiment and compare the results of the model to those of the experiment. This exercise teaches the importance of the model assumptions and the applicability of the model. It would be even more effective if the experiments were simple enough so that students could do them at home as a homework assignment, rather than restricting their experience to a "canned" two hour lab course. At eFluids.com, we are building a library of such experiments in an effort to build a community of educators that moves beyond the traditional mathematical exercises for homework. Here, we describe a number of these experiments and how they can be used in classes

Graphite Ablation Experiments in the LHMEL Laser Facility

Understanding the surface reactions of ablating materials is an important need for modeling Thermal Protection Systems (TPS). There are many experiments out there that capture ablation phenomena seen in hypersonic flows, but ones that can be used to validate Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes are limited. Most experiments are conducted in arcjet wind tunnels where the enthalpy of the flow is increased by plasma heating due to arc discharges. These flows are hard to characterize due to the unknown dissociated state of the flow that varies spatially along the length of the plasma jet exiting the arc heater. These types of experiments are best for engineering design and not for looking at fundamental physics of surface chemistry. Other options for experimentally measuring surface reaction rates are in ovens or by laser heating of the surface. Laser ablation testing is currently conducted by the Air Force Research Lab Materials Directorate in the LHMEL facility. This work will describe an effort to conduct experiments to be used as validation tools for modeling surface reaction rates