BSEN 3310 - Hydraulic Transport in Biosystems
- Erin Bunkers
- Nov 21, 2020
- 2 min read
Fluid properties, Non-Newtonian fluids and biological systems, Fluid statics, Energy equation, mass and momentum balance, pipe flow for Newtonian and Non-Newtonian fluids, dimensional analysis, compressible flows.
Hydraulic Transport was rumored to be one of the most challenging classes while in Biosystems because it was fast paced, challenged my technical writing skills, and my problem solving skills. This class focused on the basic principle topics like pressure, Bernoulli equation, fluid kinematics, and fluid statics. We then built those skills to learn more difficult topics like internal and external flow, dimensional analysis, and turbomachinery.
While learning these topics we were given the opportunity to apply them during our lab sessions. The lab reports included topics like Hydrostatic pressure, Rheology, Discharge Coefficient, and Bourdon Calibration. These lab reports challenged my data analysis abilities with analyzing graphs and data sets in Excel.
The last portion of the semester we combined our knowledge with a final project that focused on an application we were intrigued by at the beginning of the semester. The application I chose was blood pressure. Blood pressure combines the intrigue of the human body with fluid dynamics, and this class has given me the knowledge to understand the inner workings. The circulatory system is a system of pipes with a non-circular diameter that are malleable with the ability to expand and contract suddenly. The equations below were a few that I learned the class that would allow me to understand the topic more.
This is the link to my final presentation with a more detailed explanation to the application of blood pressure, as well as other equations that I was equipped with during the class. Another large portion of the class is applying past knowledge, so we can build our skills. Other equations that would apply to the blood pressure application come from my Heat and Mass Transfer Class, were Darcy's Law and the average velocity - these equations are in the images below. The reason these were chosen because these equations deal with mass flow through pores, and blood flows in porous regions in the body.
Overall, this class was very challenging, but I enjoyed myself. I think that in this semester I got to use many of the learning outcomes we are challenged with as Biosystems Engineers, and I hope to take these skills and what I learned in the classroom to my future career field.
Comments