BRINGING NUMERICAL METHODS TO LIFE IN AN UNDERGRADUATE HEAT TRANSFER COURSE

A single-semester undergraduate course on heat transfer will typically cover conduction, convection and radiation, with combined effects in the study of heat exchangers. There is significant content which leaves little room for numerical methods, particularly the fundamental finite difference approaches to discretize the heat diffusion equation. Teaching these topics in a few lessons is perceived by the student as checking the block, with little benefit to their learning or appreciation for the power of these tools. This paper presents a multi-faceted learning structure to excite the students about numerical methods. A challenge is presented to model a real-world transient conduction scenario and verify the predicted temperature changes with experimental testing. In the first assignment, students identify the finite difference equations, some found in their textbook and others which must be derived from first principles. The equations are coded into Matlab^®to model the transient response in the second assignment. The third assignment is the culminating event, where student teams arrive with a device which they built from cleverly sourced waste materials to best perform in the stated thermal challenge. They also produce a solid model and thermal simulation of their device using SolidWorks^®. Each team’s device is subjected to the same initial and boundary conditions during the competition. Teams are rewarded for both best performance of their device and most accurate thermal simulation of their device, which fuels their competitive nature and makes learning enjoyable.