Fluid mechanics experiments using commercial off-the-shelf components

Abstract

In the National Institute of Physics (NIP), University of the Philippines Diliman, there are few attempts at conducting fluid mechanics experiments. This suggests that there is a lack of equipment or set-ups available. To address this deficiency, we present two fluid experiments with set-ups constructed from commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components. First, we created a rigid body rotation set-up, and 3D reconstructed swirling water surface levels using Free Surface-Synthetic Schlieren (FS-SS) method. Second, we described a full experimental set-up for a laboratory scale simulation of Philippine inter-island eddies. The same setup can be extended to eddy simulations involving other islands and wind direction. These set-ups can be replicated by other universities in the Philippines to enhance their research and teaching of fluid mechanics problems and concepts.