Welcome to the course

Welcome to Fluid Dynamics in Practice: Applications to Real-World Challenges.

In this two-week course, you’ll explore the fundamentals of fluid behaviour and examine how it impacts everything around us, from the way water moves through our pipes to understanding extreme weather patterns.

In this video, Dr Duncan Borman from the University of Leeds introduces the topics you will explore over the next two weeks in more detail.

Learning outcomes and course map

By participating in this course, you’ll be able to do the following:

• Investigate the principles of fluid dynamics and their application to the real world .
• Explain the impact of fluid dynamics across different areas of people’s lives and the environment.
• Describe the role played by experimental, theoretical and computational models and how they inform decisions taken in the real world.
• Explore the range of UG and PG degrees available at Leeds that offer further study of fluid dynamics.
• Identify the career opportunities open to graduates who have studied fluid dynamics.

The Course Map in the Downloads section provides an overview of the two weeks ahead.

Learning for general interest

If you have a general interest in this topic, you can work through just the core learning activities, which should take around 2 hours per week. You will have the opportunity to check your understanding and spend some time joining the discussions. It is important that you don’t feel pressured to complete all the elements of the course; your learning journey is individual, and you should decide what elements are relevant to your learning needs.

Who will support your learning?

Your educators on this course are from the University of Leeds. Your Lead Educator is Dr Duncan Borman, Associate Professor in the School of Civil Engineering. Duncan is the Digital Education Academic Lead for the faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences and an active member of the Leeds Institute for Fluid Dynamics (LIFD).

His expertise is in mathematical modelling of industrial and environmental flows, where he has a strong interest in understanding problems that involve multiphase flows. Duncan has broad experience in numerical modelling and CFD applied to these problems, including mixing in complex fluids where chemical or biological processes may be occurring (e.g. bioreactors, fuel cells), thermal mixing problems and problems that require prediction of moving boundaries and free-surfaces (e.g. air-water interfaces).

Duncan is joined by Professor Catherine Noakes from the School of Civil Engineering and Dr Juliane Schwendike from the School of Earth and Environment, who will each present case studies in Week 2. A short video will introduce Catherine and Juliane at the start of Week 2.

Have your say:

You can use the Comments section to tell us more about yourself, where you are from, and why you have chosen to join this course. You can also choose to follow other learners.

Just one of the exciting elements of learning online is the support from other learners. If you have time, please respond to comments from other learners and support them with their learning. Use the Comments section on each step, and the discussions, to ask the educators and your fellow learner’s questions. Developing a collaborative learning environment will lead to a successful and enjoyable course.

Glossary of terms

As you complete the course, you may come across terms and references that require further explanation. To help with this, there is a Glossary that you can view and refer to at any point in the course.

If you come across any terminology during the course that is not included in the Glossary, please use the Comments section to ask fellow learners and the educators.

Next steps

When you are ready to move on, select Mark as Complete. You can monitor your progress through the course by selecting Progress at the top of the page. This will show you the steps you have completed and will provide your score for the end-of-course test.