Pakistani students get hands on with pipe networks

It has been a common observation that engineers that graduate from our universities do not possess the proper ability to apply the theory they have learned over the course of their degree to practice. They lack the requisite hands-on experience and the ability to design creatively, within the boundaries of technical constraints.

IMechE NUST Student Chapter has proposed a solution to this problem: The Fluid Mechanics Pipe Network Project. This project aims to provide students in their second year of engineering in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering (SMME) an opportunity to gain hands-on experience related to something that they study in class.

The project requires students to design a pipe network with constraints set on the pressure heads achieved at certain junctions in the network. This requires students to apply the concepts related to Pipe Network Analysis they are taught in the course "Fluid Mechanics II" and come to a solution iteratively.

To facilitate the experimental validation of these designed networks, a test bench was developed by a group of students under the supervision of Dr. Muhammad Sajid which can implement pipe networks and allow students to measure the pressure heads at various junctions. The construction of the bench was sponsored by KSB pumps, who have played a vital role in making this project possible. The bench utilizes a software developed in MATLAB and involving Image Processing techniques to measure the pressure heads manifested as liquid columns of varying heights.

From the 16 to 18 May, 2018, the students will be giving live demonstrations of their pipe networks on the test bench and will be required to describe their solutions. The project constitutes a portion of the overall grade for the course, and the students will be graded during these demonstrations.

There is no doubt that projects like these have the potential to expose students to aspects of real-world engineering, push them to expand their skillsets, and inculcate in them design thinking, ultimately making them better engineers.