Development Of An Ocean Engineering Course As A Technical Elective For Mechanical Engineers

This paper outlines the development of a course in Ocean Engineering to be used as a technical elective for mechanical engineering students. With some modifications, the course is also being offered as a technology elective for graduate students in a marine science program. The paper covers the following sequence of events: a sabbatical leave by the course instructor to develop improved capability in this area, textbook selection, course syllabus, and first year experiences teaching the course. A small wave tank was designed and built by some students in conjunction with the first offering of the course, and this is now being used for demonstrations in future offerings of the course. Introduction Several years ago, the University of Massachusetts developed a new program called the Intercampus Graduate School of Marine Sciences and Technology (IGSMST), or simply “IGS.” This program is a joint program offered through four of the campuses of the UMASS system (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, and Lowell). It is a graduate program designed to provide graduates with skills in the marine science area for industry, the government, and academia. The program is described in detail in Ref. 1. Various departments on each campus are contributing to this program in different ways: some with existing courses and research experience, and others by creating new courses for the program. The Mechanical Engineering Department on the Lowell campus had some research and practical experience in the field of Ocean Engineering and related fields, and had offered a course many years ago called “Mechanical Engineering Problems in Oceanography.” A forty foot long wave tank had been used for studying oil spills on water, but long since dismantled, and the department had participated in human-powered submarine projects in previous years (see Ref. 2). A number of graduates from the program had gone on to work in such organizations as the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Electric Boat, and the Office of Naval Research. In order to formalize this past experience for the new IGS program, and also to provide increased course opportunities for students in Mechanical Engineering, it was decided to create a new technical elective in Ocean Engineering, to be offered at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The sequence of events was to include a sabbatical leave for the author to develop additional background in this field, followed by creation and offering of the courses. The sequence used could be used by any college or university to develop a new course in a different area. P ge 951.1 Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Sabbatical Leave The author of this paper was granted a sabbatical leave during the Spring 2002 semester to take courses related to Ocean Engineering at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). FAU has a strong Ocean Engineering program, and was one of the first schools in the country to develop such a program. Three courses were studied: a junior level course titled “Oceanography,” a senior level course titled “Fluid Mechanics II,” and a graduate course titled “Coastal Structures.” The Oceanography course was a general summary of physical, chemical, and biological oceanography for Ocean Engineering students. The Fluid Mechanics II course included material on calculation of resistance and performance of ships, as well as marine propeller selection. The Coastal Structures course was a detailed course in wave mechanics, as well as calculation of forces on coastal and offshore structures. Contacts were also made with faculty doing research in this area, attendance at seminars, and field trips and laboratory experiences. Highlights of the program included wave tank demonstrations, flow around model ship hulls, and a field trip aboard the 65 ft MS Stephen to measure ocean properties such as turbidity, salinity, and temperature variation with depth. Following the sabbatical leave, one summer and a following semester were available for preparing the new courses, and two of the new courses were offered for the first time one year later at the University of Massachusetts Lowell during the Spring 2003 semester. Course Development Possible textbooks were evaluated in conjunction with the material learned, and it was decided to use a text by Randall 3 as the primary text, in conjunction with extensive handout material from the Coastal Engineering Manual 4 to fill in where Randall did not go into sufficient detail. The first year, it was decided to offer the course as a technical elective only to the Mechanical Engineering students, to give some time to working the “bugs” out of the course before offering it more broadly through the IGS program. The course was offered as a “dualnumbered” course, on both the undergraduate and graduate levels, all students taking the same course material and tests, but with the graduate students doing two additional projects. Catalog descriptions for these two courses are given below. A syllabus for each of the courses is given in Appendix A. 22.486 Ocean Engineering Summary of the ocean environment. Fluid mechanics of ocean waves. Modeling and scaling laws for ships, and river and estuary flows. Hydrodynamics of offshore and coastal structures. Floating and submerged body hydrodynamics. Marine propulsion. Introduction to various underwater systems. Prereq: Fluid mechanics. 22.588 Ocean Engineering Summary of the ocean environment. Fluid mechanics of ocean waves. Computer project in ocean wave interference. Modeling and scaling laws for ships, and river and estuary flows. Hydrodynamics of offshore and coastal structures. Floating and submerged body hydrodynamics. Marine propulsion. Introduction to various underwater systems. Independent research project. Prereq: Permission of instructor.