The purpose of this project is to introduce a laboratory component into an introductory fluid mechanics course. This is accomplished by the purchase of a specially designed and fabricated modular fluid mechanics laboratory and exhibit. The modular laboratory will consist of a series of experiments which depict various fluid dynamic and hydrostatic principles. In a museum exhibit fashion, water is pumped to an overhead reservoir and sent cascading through the various experimental stations which are interconnected by siphons, open channels, and weirs. The experimental stations, fabricated using clear acrylic pipes and tanks, display principles ranging from buoyancy to momentum in visually appealing settings. Questions accompany each experimental station to promote student interest ant to test their intuition. While serving as a stimulating course introduction, the key feature of the laboratory exhibit is the modularization. Each break-away experiment is self- contained and easily understood, allowing for data acquisition and analysis by students in an open-lab format during the quarter. The lab exercises, which can be accomplished quickly, will serve to verify or dispel the student's original intuitive predictions. To conclude the course, the individual experiments are reattached to the exhibit. The principles which have now been solidified in the student's minds are once again depicted in the fascinating, museum- like exhibit. The institution is contributing an amount equal to the award.***//
