Fundamentals of engineering design - a freshman measurements laboratory

Chemical Engineering concepts in flow measurement, pressure drop in pipes, pressure drop in packed towers, pressure drop in fluidized beds and efflux time from tanks were introduced to students ranging from eleventh grade in high school to college sophomores. The course is a part of the new Fundamentals in Engineering Design course at New Jersey Institute of Technology aimed at introducing normal senior design concepts to freshmen. Class size was kept small because the freshmen need much individual attention. In addition, a course manual was prepared which included two parts. The first part on the theory of measurements, definitions, basic concepts, units, dimensions, standards, conversions, dimensional analysis, correlations, linearization, statistical analysis, and written and oral communication, provided the students with the necessary background. The second part was a detailed explanation of the various experiments that the student groups performed.