Forty Years’ Experience in Teaching Fluid Mechanics at Strasbourg University

Abstract

A summary of the personal investment in teaching fluid mechanics over 40 years in a French university is presented. Learning and Teaching Science and Engineering has never been easy, and in recent years it has become a crucial challenge for curriculum developers and teaching staff to offer attractive courses and optimized assessments. One objective is to ensure that students acquire competitive skills in higher science education that enable them to compete in the employment market, as the mechanical field is a privileged sector in industry. During the last decade, classical learning and teaching methods have been coupled with hands-on practice for future schoolteachers in a specific course on subjects including fluid mechanics. The hands-on/minds-on/hearts-on approach has demonstrated its effectiveness in training primary school teachers, and fluids are certainly a nice source of motivation for pupils in science learning. In mechanical engineering, for undergraduate and graduate students, the development of teaching material and the learning and teaching experience covers up to 40 years, mostly on fluid dynamics and related topics. Two periods are identified, those prior to and after the Bologna Process. Most recently, teaching instruction has focused on the Fluid Mechanics Concept Inventory (FMCI). This inventory has been recently introduced in France, with some modifications, and remedial tools have been developed and are proposed to students to remove misconceptions and misunderstandings of key concepts in fluid mechanics. The FMCI has yet to be tested in French higher education institutions, as are the innovative teaching methods that are emerging in fluid mechanics.

A Didactic Procedure to Solve the Equation of Steady-Static Response in Suspended Cables

“…The displacement of point b is w(x) in the z-axis, according to (34), and uB_II(x) in the x-axis, according to (44). The value of u B_II , according to (44) for a half-span of l/2, corresponds to the length increase of the profile of a parabola with span l, according to (8).…”

“…Both a Taylor series and iterative resolution algorithms take the student away from real physical phenomena. According to Huilier [8], difficulties in mathematics are the main obstacle for young students to get interested in science and technology disciplines. When studying the subject of suspended cables in the final years of secondary education, students ask themselves questions such as: What length of cable is necessary to join two points?…”

Análisis de las pérdidas de carga en flujo turbulento en un laboratorio universitario de mecánica de fluidos

“…La mecánica de fluidos estudia el comportamiento de los fluidos a través de tres leyes físicas denominadas principios de conservación de masa, momentum (leyes de Newton de la mecánica clásica) y energía (ecuación de Bernoulli) (Cengel y Cimbala, 2018), convirtiéndose en un componente curricular dentro del bloque de asignaturas de ciencias básicas aplicadas en los planes de estudios de programas en ingeniería mecánica, ingeniería civil, ingeniería ambiental, entre otros (Huilier, 2019). Su estudio es complejo porque incluye enfocarse simultáneamente en el dominio de conceptos basados en modelos matemáticos y sus comprobaciones a través de observaciones reales y mediciones controladas de variables físicas en equipos experimentales (Baldock y Chanson, 2006;Anaya-Durand et al, 2014;Garrard et al, 2020).…”

Teaching and Learning of Fluid Mechanics

“…Articles [18][19][20] are more pedagogically focused. Huilier's contribution [18] is unique and provides a rich personal history of teaching fluid mechanics for over forty years at the University of Strasbourg.…”

“…Articles [18][19][20] are more pedagogically focused. Huilier's contribution [18] is unique and provides a rich personal history of teaching fluid mechanics for over forty years at the University of Strasbourg. While the subject of fluid mechanics has evolved much in the last several decades, this reflective piece is a guide to all young instructors about how to adapt and evolve one's teaching and pedagogy.…”