FLUID MECHANICS LABORATORY

 

The Fluids laboratory in Civil Engineering at NDSU is  well equipped for serving the undergraduate curriculum. The lac laboratory has equipment for demonstrating and verifying fundamental principles of fluid flow. It also has several flow-measuring devices both for measuring pipe-flow and channel-flow. The laboratory can accommodate 12 students in one session. The students get a good hands-on experience in this laboratory.

The major use of the laboratory is for a  1-credit required Fluids laboratory course (CE 310) in the Civil Engineering curriculum. The course is accepted as an elective for  some other engineering programs. Other elective courses in the Civil Engineering program also use this laboratory for demonstrating some principles of fluid flow. They are Open Channel Flow (CE 421) and Groundwater and Seepage (CE 776).

The major equipment in this laboratory consists of:

  • Long tilting flume
  • Short tilting flume
  • Pelton turbine
  • Jet impact apparatus
  • Pipe friction apparatus
  • Hydrostatics apparatus
  • Floating body stability apparatus
  • Viscosity determination apparatus
  • Wind tunnel
  • Pump testing facility
  • Pressure gage calibration apparatus
  • Flow meter calibration apparatus
  • Energy loss in fluid flow demonstration apparatus
  • Flownet apparatus

Of these, the long and short flumes can be used for carrying out several experiments in open channel flow. The long flume is essentially used for graduate research as and when needed. Graduate students basically fabricate their own experimental set-up for hydraulic modeling and other studies. The help of the University Machine Tool facility is often used for fabricating models for research. Many hydraulic modeling studies for the ND State Water Commission have been conducted in this laboratory.

A NSF equipment grant in1989-91 made it possible for us to procure some pieces of equipment listed above. Some of those were new additions while some others were replacements for the older equipment. The latest equipment to be added was an ultrasonic flow meter for measuring flow-rate through pipes of different material without interfering with the flow.

The space available now is completely filled up and additional space will only become available by expanding the building.

Prospective students may schedule a visit by calling 1-800-488-NDSU.

© Copyright 2002, Civil Engineering and Construction, North Dakota State University