Year 11 Engineering Studies Excursion to The University of Sydney

On Wednesday, April 3, 23 students from Year 11 Engineering Studies had an excursion to the Engineering Faculty of the University of Sydney.

Firstly, the students were brought to the Fluids Laboratory in the School of Civil Engineering. The lab has numerous water flumes for both research and teaching purposes. There is also a large wave flume to generate surface waves and study their interaction with structures. The students were shown a demonstration of the wave flume and a hydraulic jump in one of the water flumes. The general importance of fluid mechanics in engineering was also discussed. The Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel (BLWT) facility, which is one of the largest in Australia for academic research, was shown to the students.

Then the students were brought to the Alternative Fuels and Resources Laboratory and the Process Engineering Laboratory. The staff demonstrated how to utilise cleaner technology, transform biomass into valuable chemicals, and undertake experiments on pilot-scale chemical engineering apparatus and rigs.

Lastly, the students were brought to Bennett Lab. The staff gave a short presentation on the flight mechanics of drones, followed by a flying demonstration of a mini drone. The presentation covered how a drone achieves balance and hover, how it is different from a conventional aeroplane, and how it uses differential thrust to manoeuvre. The students had a great time controlling a mini drone in the lab. Then the students had a hands-on experience using flight simulators to take off the aeroplane and land it on the runway.

Huge thanks to the wonderful behaviour of the students and the opportunity that the University of Sydney provided.

D. Dong