ChEn 285 Fluid Dynamics

As a student engineer, you often solve homework problems and generate numbers with units attached. The goal of this lab is to help you gain some intuition on the size or amount of quantities that you may encounter. Another goal is to have you practice the skill of doing rapid estimations of quantities in your head.

Using this device, you will do a transient measurement on a tank while it discharges and then compare results to theory and do a transient mass balance on a tank while filling it with compressed air.

Peristaltic pumps are used to provide metered flow of toxic or high-value chemicals. As a chemical engineer, you need to know how to use such equipment. You also need to know how to perform transient mass balances on tanks.

Pressure is a fundamental quantity used in chemical engineering. This lab helps you to get experience measuring pressure with a manometer and other instruments.

As a chemical engineer you need strong intuition about how pressure is created in systems that are a pure component vs. a mixture.

External flow refers to fluid moving around the outside of an object. This flow can lead to a drag force (force in opposition to the movement) or a lift force (orthogonal to the movement). In this lab you will investigate drag, terminal velocity, and viscosity.