Unit of Study CIVL2017 Fluid Dynamics (2025)

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Unit Snapshot

Unit type

UG Coursework Unit
Credit points

6
Faculty & College

Faculty of Science and Engineering
Placement

No

Enrolment information

It is assumed that students are familiar with the basic properties of fluids, principles of hydrostatics, and principles of conservation of mass, energy and momentum, (e.g. as taught in the unit CIVL2010 - Hydraulic Engineering Fundamentals) and have basic skills in working with simple differential equations.

Unit description

Examines the behaviour of incompressible moving fluids based on the laws of conservation of mass, energy and momentum. Effects of viscosity on shear stresses and creation of boundary layers in real fluids are explored. The theory behind dimensional analysis and computational fluid dynamics, and their application through physical and numerical modelling, are introduced.

Unit content

Boundary layers

Lift and drag forces

Dimensional analysis and physical modelling

The differential forms of the conservation laws

Introduction to computational fluid dynamics

Non-uniform and unsteady flows in open channels

Availabilities

Not currently available in 2025

Learning outcomes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

describe how and why boundary layers form in real fluid flows, and how this affects the behaviour of real moving fluids

employ dimensional analysis, physical modelling and computational fluid dynamics to investigate simple fluid dynamics problems

analyse simple non-uniform and unsteady flows of incompressible fluids in open channels.

Fee information

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