Fluid Mechanics

Full course description

In this course, you are introduced to the study of fluids in rest and motion, which is essential to many scientific and industrial applications. From nanoscopic DNA manipulation, to the design of microscopic chemical reactors, to macroscopic recycling of plastics by extrusion, these are all engineering examples at different length scales that depend on understanding fluid mechanics.

This course focuses on answering these key questions mainly at a macroscopic scale: what is a fluid? And what properties distinguish its mechanical behavior? Answering these questions will help establish the relationship between fluids and flows, which is significant for designing chemical and material processes and their related equipment. More specifically, understanding fluid flow is central to improving the sustainable processing of materials.

Fluid mechanics is the first building block of transport phenomena (along with mass and energy transport). Transport phenomena are indispensable to circular engineering since they correlate material properties and processing conditions with each other so that one can control the final properties/performance during production. This role is emphasized in this course, particularly in designing sustainable processes.

The course starts with an introduction to fluid properties and their effect on fluid flow and different types of flow, followed by fundamental principles of transport phenomena. Throughout the course, you learn how to apply these principles to solve practical engineering problems. Furthermore, complex fluids such as polymers and molten plastics will be addressed, which is highly relevant for designing the circular processing of plastics. At the end of the course, you are able to apply your acquired knowledge in process designs and optimization.