The goal of this project is to get you into the lab and learning some fluid mechanics by getting your hands wet. Fluid dynamics requires a degree of intuition, and the best way to get this is by playing with fluids!
A second goal is for you to do a bit of research on your topic, and writing a good 3 or so page introduction to the topic. This will practice your research skills, assimilation, and writing skills.
The third goal is to practice presenting your research, both orally, and in written form.
In order to encourage you to not procrastinate, and make rapid progress, there are milestones to be completed.
Both Nik and I are available for discussion at anytime about your project; as below, there will be a formal meeting with both of us.
Free marks for choosing your project.
You should choose to examine a phenomena in some detail, preferably with as quantitative measurements as possible, and through some fraction of parameter space. A list of possible ideas are given below. You could also check out An Album of Fluid Motion which I can lend you, or various online versions of the same. The Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics often has excellent review articles that could inspire an idea.
Its possible your primary project will not work, or not be feasible. You won’t be penalized for this, but a) check w/ us early, and b) have a few other ideas in mind!
Submit, by email, a 1-page PDF describing
- your primary experimental phenomena
- what equipment is required
- what your experimental procedure will be
Include contingency plans for the above. Also very briefly outline a
Fallback project in case your first choice is completely infeasible.
Grading: this part will be graded for thought put into your proposal, not whether it is “right” or not. So don’t be shy about proposing something interesting. Mostly the grade is just to encourage you to get this done.
Your final report of your work will have a short introduction, 3-4 pages, not including figures, double spaced 12pt font. It does not depend on your lab experiment results, so this milestone is to encourage you to draft it ahead of time.
The introduction should summarize in 3 or 4 paragraphs a) what you are planning to do, b) why it is important, and c) what has been done on it before. It should also include a short synopsis of any theory relating to the problem. You should have 4-5 references that are included in this short write up. The goal here is to make sure you have thought about your experiment’s place in the literature, and have made yourself familiar with some of the previous knowledge about how it is going to work. For your literature review Google Scholar is often very helpful.
Two class periods are set aside for you to give a 15 minute talk on your project to the rest of the class. Make sure to briefly explain the background and theory, and then to present your results as clearly as possible.
The final project is due at this time. It consists of your introduction, your experimental setup, your results, and any discussion you might have. A typical report would be on the order of 8-10 pages, double spaced, not including figures, but shorter is fine if you can get everything across. Longer likely means a) you did too much or b) you need to cut to the chase in your discussion.
Obviously you all have other courses, and one could occupy oneself fulltime in a fluid mechanics laboratory. Bear in mind that most of the papers you have read represent months, if not years, of sustained effort, often by teams of skilled researchers. You don’t want to do something too hokey, but conversely, don’t bite off more than you can chew.
A good rule of thumb would be 3 hours for set up, and another 6-9 hours for your experiments. The research might take a bit longer depending on your skills, but if you are spending much more than 6 hours researching and writing your introduction, you are probably reading the literature too in depth, or suffering writers block! For the former, try to get the main point of the paper as it applies to your project - you aren’t going to explain the whole paper, just how it relates. For the latter, just write something, don’t fuss with formatting or how it sounds. Get something on paper, you can always perfect it later.
Based on this, we expect this will occupy 24 hours, or about 2 hours per week during term. You will probably want to have a concentrated burst of activity while running your experiment. Please make sure you have scheduled lab time with Nik to avoid conflicts with other lab users.