A Cross Curricular Numerical And Experimental Study In Heat Transfer

In this study, the integration of numerical and experimental analyses for the heat transfer of a cooling cylinder is revisited. In the spring of their Junior year, students in an introductory heat transfer course are asked to perform a numerical analysis of the cooling phenomenon for the free convection of cooling cylinder. The students study both aluminum and acrylic cylinders, affording students the opportunity to test the validity of the lumped capacitance model for the system. In the fall of their senior year, the same students in a technical elective Systems and Measurement course are asked to design and conduct an experiment to validate their simulation. This includes generating LabVIEW code, setting data acquisition parameters, and determining appropriate post processing for the data. Additionally, students are given a review of their numerical study just prior to their experimental work. Analysis of their performance and an assessment of survey results are used to determine the degree to which the integrated exercise has been appreciated.