ELEMENTS OF A GRADUATE COURSE IN COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS: SUCCESSFUL ASSIMILATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

While a course in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a common offering in many universities and for several decades, the author of this paper learnt interesting patterns from the students' assimilation of the principles and implemented the pedagogical build-up for positive experiences during the recent offering in winter 2012-13. With precise assignments that highlight the appropriate concepts to be learnt and put to coding, the students have progressed in gaining the confidence to tackle a variety of flow problems. Students felt that they could always learn using software and solve problems but the intricate details in understanding and applying the governing fluid dynamics equations was what they were able to gain from the course. The topical treatment given, the problems solved, the techniques applied, the software used are presented in this paper as an example of successful implementation of and enhanced student learning in a graduate course in CFD. Industry-relevant course projects culminated the positive experience, as confirmed by the course evaluation results.