Harish N dixit

ME 2411:
Mechanical Engineering Lab I - Fluid Mechanics Lab
Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
IIT Hyderabad

Instructor: Harish Dixit
Lab time: Every Tuesday (08:30-11:30)
Venue: Workshop, note that you'll have to wear shoes to be allowed into the workshop
TA's: All thermal stream students from MTech - 2013 batch
Office: Room 113
Phone: 040-230 7119
Email: hdixit(at)iith.ac.in

GRADING and EXAMS: There will be a viva at the end of the term. There won't be the usual final exam involving an experiment. You will get 10 marks for each report and the rest will be adjusted accordingly. Make sure you write a clear report (see the link on what I expect in the report) as it will give you most of your marks.

Objectives of the lab (shamelessly copied/adapted from Prof. Ajay Prasad's UDel Page)
To illustrate the physical concepts of fluid flows.
To introduce experimental techniques for fluid mechanics.
To demonstrate the limitations and applicability of theory.
To encourage creativity in the use of experimental apparatus.
To develop the ability for team work.
To develop effective communication of technical information.

The Plan A total of seven experiments will be performed by you, with one experiment each fortnight except for experiments numbers 6 & 7 which will be done on the same day. After each week's experiments, you will move to the Solid Mechanics lab to do experiments there. You will have to read the manual for the certain experiment which you'll be performing before you come to the lab. The TA's assigned to the experiment will guide you during the experiment, but they will NOT be doing the experiment for you. Feel free to communicate with the TA's or me about the physics behind the experiment.

List of experiments

Experiment - 1: Find the coefficient of discharge of the V/Rectangular notch
Experiment - 2: Find the coefficient of discharge of the Venturi meter, Orifice meter and Rota meter
Experiment - 3: Determine the force produced by water jet striking on a flat/hemispherical cap
Experiment - 4: Determine the friction losses: straight pipes, bends, sudden expansion and contraction, smooth vs rough pipe, globe vs gate vs ball valves.
Experiment - 5:

     (a) Determination of fluid properties: density and viscosity
     (b) Determination of capillary rise/fall in tubes with different diameters
     (c) Pressure measurement: Manometers, Bourdan pressure gauge

Experiment - 6: Stability of floating body and determination of Metacentric height
Experiment - 7: Experiments in water channel: qualitative visualization study of flow around a circular cylinder.

Regarding Lab Report:
A single hand-written report to be submitted by each group. Reports should be neatly written containing a clear description about the theory involved with each experiment. Use your own words to write the report (I don't want to see a copy of previous week's report of your friends). What I expect to see in the report:
Title Page
       (a) Title of experiment
       (b) Group ID; names of group members
       (c) Date experiment was performed
       (d) Date report was submitted

Objectives or Aims of the experiment
       Theoretical background
       What principle is this experiment designed to illustrate?
       Describe the theory and any relevant equations/derivations.

Description of apparatus used

Experimental Procedure
       Initial set up
       Parameters varies

Results
       Table containing the data
       One sample calculation
       Plot graphs using either Excel or Matlab (take print of the graphs to be submitted in your report)

Discussion & Conclusions
       Discuss the trends obtained in your results - do the trends make physical sense to you
       What did you learn from the experiment
       Possible source of error, if any.

Policies: Missing the week's experiment will normally result in a mark of zero. Exceptions may be granted in two cases: prior consent of the instructor or a medical emergency. In the latter case, the instructor must be notified as soon as possible (preferably before the day of the lab), and presented with a doctor's note immediately upon the student's return to IITH.