The project provides a comprehensive and challenging laboratory experience in the areas of compressible flow, flow metering and jet flows for mechanical engineering students. The major equipment purchased includes an air-storage tank, a nozzle flow apparatus, an electronic balance, two air blowers, and a computer data-acquisition system. This equipment together with the equipment on hand is used to perform experiments on pressure and mass flow measurements in supersonic nozzle flows, thrust and flow patterns in nozzle flows, the Mach number measurement, differential pressure flow meters, and jet flows. The project strengthens the laboratory education in thermal sciences, introduces experiments concerning compressible air flow, and provides better opportunities for students in thermal-design classes and independent studies.
