Uso da Fluidodinâmica computacional (CFD) aplicada ao ensino de mecânica de fluídos

Abstract

One of the major problems faced by higher education institutions in the country is the high dropout and retention rates that exist in exact science courses. In the case of Engineering, among the curricular components that present a significant number of failures, there is the example of Transport Phenomena, in which fluid mechanics is contained. This presents many mathematical equations, deductions and theoretical concepts necessary to be correlated with practice, but which end up not being well understood by students and, thus, discouraging them. In addition, the teachings presented in this area of expertise guide and integrate fundamental knowledge for the training of engineers throughout the course and in the profession; therefore it is clear that it is important to think of new teaching methodologies to reduce retention rates in these components, provide a greater interaction between theory and practice and intensify the explanation of the parts of greatest doubt and difficulty pointed out by the students. For this purpose, this work intended to use the Ansys Fluent, capable of simulating fluid dynamics, in order to assist in the visualization of behaviors and in the understanding of the physical concepts inherent to the subject. Hence, through an online shop class, case studies were presented regarding the syllabus of Transport Phenomena I with current and former students of this curricular component, referring to the Chemical Engineering and Food Engineering courses at Federal University of Pampa, in which it was possible to demonstrate the use of numerical and graphical results in the teaching of fluid dynamics. Thus, according to the students, the shop class helped them to observe the fluid flows in a more dynamic way, to relate theory to reality and to understand the content more easily. Through quantitative analysis, it was found an improvement in the averages of the seven questions, with values between 11.8 and 40%, a reduction of 0 values and an increase in students with higher scores, and also a Learning Gain of 19%