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The current and official versions of the course specifications are available on the web at .
Please consult the web for updates that may occur during the year.

MEC4108 Advanced Thermofluids

Semester 1, 2021 On-campus Springfield
Short Description: Advanced Thermofluids
Units : 1
Faculty or Section : Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences
School or Department : School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
Student contribution band : Band 2
ASCED code : 030799 - Mechanical, Industrial Enginee
Grading basis : Graded

Staffing

Examiner:

Requisites

Pre-requisite: (MEC3107 and ENM2600 and ENG3104) or Students must be enrolled in the following Program: MEPR
Students cannot enrol in MEC4108 if they have successfully completed, or are currently enrolled in, MEC3102 or MEC4103

Rationale

Thermofluids is the study of fluids (liquids and gasses) and their interaction with the environment. Engineers take advantage of the ability to perform tasks by changing the temperature of fluids or forcing them to flow. Through an understanding of how these processes occur, engineers are able to refine current practices and devise new systems which perform more efficiently, which is beneficial to the environment and the economy. This course builds upon MEC3107 Thermofluids by studying more complex systems and introducing more advanced analysis techniques to investigate the performance of individual components.

Synopsis

The analysis of thermofluids is based around forces and energy: this is how fluids interact with other fluids and solids as part of their environment. Complex heat transfer behaviour is explored, with its impact on power generation, refrigeration and air conditioning. Multi-dimensional fluid dynamics and the effects of compressibility on fluid flow are examined.

Objectives

On successful completion of this course students should be able to:

  1. discriminate between methods for predicting the heat transfer in a range of systems;
  2. assess the performance of power generation, refrigeration and air-conditioning systems;
  3. evaluate the behaviour of fluid flow for complex systems.

Topics

Description Weighting(%)
1. Introduction 4.00
2. Transient heat conduction 18.00
3. Natural convection 8.00
4. Radiation heat transfer 10.00
5. Heat exchangers 8.00
6. Rankine cycle 8.00
7. Refrigeration and air conditioning 16.00
8. Fluid flow conservation laws and differential formulation 8.00
9. Similitude 8.00
10. Compressible flow 12.00

Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed

ALL textbooks and materials available to be purchased can be sourced from (unless otherwise stated). (https://omnia.usq.edu.au/textbooks/?year=2021&sem=01&subject1=MEC4108)

Please for alternative purchase options from USQ Bookshop. (https://omnia.usq.edu.au/info/contact/)

All students should purchase the following textbook:
Cengel, YA, Ghajar, AJ, Boles, MA, Cimbala, JM 2018, MEC4108 Textbook Part 2, McGraw Hill.
Students should purchase one of the following two textbooks:
Cengel, YA, Cimbala, JM, and Turner, RH 2017, Fundamentals of thermal fluid sciences, 5th edn in SI Units, McGraw Hill. (This is the set textbook for MEC3107 Thermofluids.)
or

Cengel, YA, Ghajar, AJ, Boles, MA, and Cimbala, JM, and Turner, RH 2018, MEC4108 Textbook Part 1, McGraw Hill.

Reference materials

Reference materials are materials that, if accessed by students, may improve their knowledge and understanding of the material in the course and enrich their learning experience.
Cengel, YA & Boles, MA 2015, Thermodynamics: an engineering approach, 9th SI edn, McGraw Hill, NY.
Kreith, F & Bohn, MS 2016, Principles of heat transfer, 8 (non SI) edn, Brooks/Cole Publishing, Australia.
Pritchard, PJ, Leylegian, JC, McDonals, AT & Fox, RW 2020, Fox and McDonald's introduction to fluid mechanics, 10th edn, Wiley, New York.
White, FM 2016, Fluid Mechanics, 8th edn, McGraw Hill, New York.

Student workload expectations

Activity Hours
Assessments 47.00
Lectures 39.00
Private Study 43.00
Tutorials 26.00

Assessment details

Description Marks out of Wtg (%) Due Date Objectives Assessed Notes
Assignment 1 300 30 06 Apr 2021 1
Assignment 2 300 30 11 May 2021 1,2,3
Assignment 3 400 40 07 Jun 2021 1,2,3

Important assessment information

  1. Attendance requirements:
    It is the students' responsibility to attend and participate appropriately in all activities (such as lectures and tutorials) scheduled for them, and to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration.

  2. Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
    To satisfactorily complete an individual assessment item a student must achieve at least 50% of the marks for that item.

  3. Penalties for late submission of required work:
    Students should refer to the Assessment Procedure (point 4.2.4)

  4. Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
    To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course.

    Supplementary assessment may be offered where a student has undertaken all of the required summative assessment items but failed to achieve a passing Final Grade by 5% or less of the total weighted Marks.

    To be awarded a passing grade for a supplementary assessment item (if applicable), a student must achieve at least 50% of the available marks for the supplementary assessment item as per Section 4.4.2 of the Assessment Procedure.


  5. Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
    The final grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the aggregate of the weighted marks obtained for each of the summative items for the course.

  6. Examination information:
    There is no examination for this course.

  7. Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
    As there is no examination for this course, there will be no deferred or supplementary examination.

  8. University Student Policies:
    Students should read the USQ policies: Definitions, Assessment and Student Academic Misconduct to avoid actions which might contravene University policies and practices. These policies can be found at .

Assessment notes

  1. Students must familiarise themselves with the USQ Assessment Procedures (.

  2. Referencing in Assignments must comply with the Harvard (AGPS) referencing system. This system should be used by students to format details of the information sources they have cited in their work. The Harvard (APGS) style to be used is defined by the USQ library’s referencing guide. These policies can be found at

Evaluation and benchmarking

In meeting the University’s aims to establish quality learning and teaching for all programs, this course monitors and ensures quality assurance and improvements in at least two ways. This course:
1. conforms to the USQ Policy on Evaluation of Teaching, Courses and Programs to ensure ongoing monitoring and systematic improvement.
2. forms part of the Bachelor of Engineering Honours and is benchmarked against the
o internal USQ accreditation/reaccreditation processes which include (i) stringent standards in the independent accreditation of its academic programs, (ii) close integration between business and academic planning, and (iii) regular and rigorous review.
o professional accreditation standards of Engineers Australia.

Other requirements

  1. Computer, e-mail and Internet access:
    Students are required to have access to a personal computer, e-mail capabilities and Internet access to UConnect. Current details of computer requirements can be found at .

  2. Students can expect that questions in assessment items in this course may draw upon knowledge and skills that they can reasonably be expected to have acquired before enrolling in this course. This includes knowledge contained in pre-requisite courses and appropriate communication, information literacy, analytical, critical thinking, problem solving or numeracy skills. Students who do not possess such knowledge and skills should not expect the same grades as those students who do possess them.

Date printed 18 June 2021