TEACHING TURBOMACHINERY UNDER THE EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION AREA
Universidad carlos III de Madrid (SPAIN)
About this paper:
Appears in:
EDULEARN10 Proceedings
Publication year: 2010
Pages: 4023-4030
ISBN: 978-84-613-9386-2
ISSN: 2340-1117
Conference name: 2nd International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies
Dates: 5-7 July, 2010
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Abstract:
Turbomachines are key components of a variety of devices that surround our lives. They are behind the majority of power producing plants in our civilization and they are the mos powerfull machines in industry, geatly contributing to energy security and sustainability. The propel aircrafts and are even forming part of natural organisms. Turbomachines are produced yearly by millions.
Turbomachines teaching at the U/niversity level, bot undergratuate or graduate, has been split between different subjects making it inefficient and cumbersome.Sometimes unnecesary simplifying hypothesis are taken.
They can be taught using solid background witout any limitation to being small, large, of hydraulic type or of compressible flow using the same theory and teaching technique. This way a coherent unitary teaching is possible in a compact format and serving many applications downstream student curricula.
Problem Based Learning (PBL) techniques can be used to some extent to indroduce new topics and concepts in an alliance with the students using well known cases by them. This way the most compromising concepts can be acquired with the minimum of effort and failures. Motivation is the principal objective in this part.
laboratory practices can be used to offer the student both a direct contacta with the machines and to gather proficiency in the measurement techniques.
Virtual practices will help in expressing in mathematical language the calculations for appication of the theory. Mathcad (r) is an appropriate environment for this.
Authors have experienced these technique for more than a decade with good results.Keywords:
European Higher Education Area, Turbomachines, Energy, Thermal Engineering, problem based learning.