Two Simple Experiments for the Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer Laboratory Class

Authors

  • Manuel A. Alves Universidade do Porto
  • Alexandra M.F.R. Pinto Universidade do Porto
  • Joao R.F. Guedes de Carvalho Universidade do Porto

Abstract

Two simple experiments are described that are cheap and easy to build.  The experiment on fluid mechanics introduces students to laminar film flow and basic aspects of two-phase flow.  The student will also gain familiarity with the mechanics of gas slugs (or Taylor bubbles, as they are often called), of film flow in wetted-wall columns, and will see how gas and liquid flow rates have to balance (in a particular case).  The experiment on heat transfer introduces students to the measurement of heat transfer coefficients around cylinders suspended in air, for both natural and forced convection.

Author Biographies

Manuel A. Alves, Universidade do Porto

Manuel A. Alves graduated in chemical engineering from the University of Oporto in 1995 and immediately began teaching as a Demonstrator in the Chemical Engineering Department there. He became a Teaching Assistant in 1996. His research interests are in fluid dynamics and applied thermodynamics.

Alexandra M.F.R. Pinto, Universidade do Porto

Alexandra M.F.R. Pinto graduated in chemical engineering from the University of Oporto in 1983, received her PhD from the same university in 1991, and is now an Assistant Professor. She has taught courses in heat and mass transfer and ChE Laboratories, and her research interests are in fluidized bed combustion and in the hydrodynamics of multiphase flows.

Joao R.F. Guedes de Carvalho, Universidade do Porto

Joao R.F. Guedes de Carvalho graduated in chemical engineering from the University of Oporto in 1971 and received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1976. He is Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Oporto, and his research interest are in multiphase flow and associated problems of mass and heat transfer.

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Published

1999-07-01

Issue

Vol. 33 No. 3 (1999): Summer 1999

Section

Manuscripts