Jupyter Notebooks for the study of advanced topics in Fluid Mechanics
Abstract
In recent years, Jupyter Notebooks have become a very useful free and open-source tool in teaching, as they allow you to combine text, images, mathematical expressions, links and code into a single document. This gives students an interactive document with which they can experiment and learn with the help of high-level mathematical calculus. In Fluid Mechanics, it is very common for students to deal with complex computations that take away attention from the Mechanic, especially in advanced topics such as Rheology, Turbulence, or Boundary Layer. The subject “Advanced Fluid Mechanics” is an elective one of the last year of the Bachelor's degree in Industrial and Aerospace Technology Engineering at the Terrassa School of Industrial, Aerospace and Audiovisual Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. This subject has three ECTS credits and has been taught since the academic year 2020–2021 This subject complements the compulsory subject Fluid Mechanics and is developed in 6 weeks with 5 h of class each week. This work presents Fluid Mechanics modules with Jupyter Notebooks that complement the syllabus given in the compulsory subject. An elective subject is presented where subjects of Fluid Mechanics per week are studied independently, using different Python tools: symbolic calculation, modeling of experimental data, statistical analysis, numerical calculation, and so forth. The main goal is for the student to focus on mechanical concepts and actively learn to use the tools available, especially open source, to do the associated mathematical calculations.
INTRODUCTION
Fluid Mechanics (FM) involves mathematical tools as diverse as Differential Equations in both Ordinary and Partial Derivatives, Geometry, Vector and Tensorial Analysis, Integrals, Complex Variables, Statistics, Numerical Calculus, and the list goes on. This means that students sometimes lose sight of the mechanical concepts in the middle of a web of mathematical equations, or some students interpret the concept of solving FM problems as looking for the correct mathematical formula that fits. This often leads to resolutions without any physical meaning.
Today, students are always using their computers, smartphones, and tablets. The high rate of device penetration globally poses new challenges and universities can continue this trend. The educational field is developing new challenges. Online education, distance learning, and other educational computing scenarios are increasingly being used. In recent years, different types of methods have been developed (artificial intelligence, mobile applications, virtual reality, game development…) that use electronic resources to improve students' understanding. These methods are known as e-learning. Several of these methods have been applied in higher education, especially in universities where education is continuously updated with new tools. The number of mobile applications used in universities is increasing, Using new technologies in the teaching process provides a lot of benefits including saving time, having faster and more accurate evaluation tools, creating new learning environments full of visual aids such as animated media, high-quality pictures, three-dimensional (3D) models, and interactive way of learning to attract students to learn and provide better outcomes.
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