Design and implementation of an aerofoil flow simulation tutorial to improve students’ knowledge and experience

Across the globe, conventional teaching methods such as lectures and in-class tutorials are widely used in engineering education. While experimental lab sessions have been included in the technical subjects, such as the wind tunnel analyses performed in most of the aeronautical engineering courses offered worldwide, these activities are still done at a very limited level. This could be due to a variety of reasons, such as model limitations, running costs, outdated or working conditions of the equipment, maintenance delays, operation restrictions (safety risks), noise issues and so on. Due to these limitations, many aeronautical academics have started to use practical tools such as ANSYS for aerodynamic, structural and propulsion related simulations in recent years. However, there is no clear evidence that these software tools can effectively improve the students’ knowledge. Hence, the main aim of this research work is to prove that software simulation teaching can improve students’ learning experience and knowledge. To prove this, a new aerodynamic simulation tutorial with the help of ANSYS (especially Fluent) was developed based on the NACA0015 aerofoil design. Procedures, including aerofoil design in ANSYS Discovery, computational domain development, boundary conditions set-up, mesh, solving the model in Fluent and validation are covered in this tutorial. This software simulation tutorial design was set based on Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and the novel DDAMV method and is similar to the lift and drag studies conducted over an aerofoil in the wind tunnel and attains the learning outcome 2, which covers the competencies C4 and C12 AHEP4s set by the UK Engineering Council.
In terms of implementation, at first, the aerodynamic concepts such as laminar, turbulence, lift and drag forces were delivered in the lecture session and students were asked to complete a pre-tutorial questionnaire, which included questions related to their understanding level of those concepts at that stage. Then the designed tutorial sessions were delivered. In which students simulated the flow over the NACA0015 aerofoil. At the end of those sessions, they completed a post-tutorial questionnaire, which captured their thoughts and technical questions related to the simulation experience and technical knowledge. With the use of pre- and post-tutorial questionnaires and simulation result submissions, this research proved that the students can understand the aerodynamic concepts, especially the flow over an aerofoil, much better after completing the simulation tutorial. Additionally, the design simulation tutorial enhanced the students’ aerodynamic knowledge and experience. This tutorial was delivered during the current academic year in the TRAN53017 module at our university. The entire research is supported by the ANSYS Curriculum Fund.