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When implemented effectively and systematically across a curriculum, high impact practices (HIP) have the potential to increase student engagement and result in higher student achievement. The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a four-year military university with a large liberal education core curriculum that provides the foundation for service and officership in the United States Air or Space Forces. Building on the liberal education core, the civil engineering (CE) major’s courses begin with the cornerstone field engineering course, paired with a two-week co-curricular experience for students at an Air or Space Force installation. With its motto “construct first, design later,” the field engineering course is an HIP and quintessential experiential learning course that gives students a practical frame-of-reference for future analysis and design courses. The CE major culminates with another HIP, the capstone design course, which gives students the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, building confidence in their ability to successfully apply those skills to the increasingly complex problems they will face after graduation. This book chapter provides a case study of the CE major at the USAFA, documenting the HIPs across the majors’ program, and highlighting the key elements and benefits of each.

The objective of the present work was to perform a detailed numerical study of laminar forced convection in a three‐dimensional square duct packed with an isotropic granular material and saturated with a Newtonian fluid. Hydrodynamic and heat transfer results are reported for three different thermal boundary conditions. The flow in the porous medium was modeled using the semi‐empirical Brinkman‐Forchheimer‐extended Darcy model which also included the effects of variable porosity and thermal dispersion. Empirical models for variable porosity and thermal dispersion were determined based on existing three‐dimensional experimental measurements. Parametric studies were then conducted to investigate the effects of particle diameter, Reynolds number, Prandtl number and thermal conductivity ratio. The results showed that channeling phenomena and thermal dispersion effects are reduced considerably in a three‐dimensional duct compared with previously reported results for a two‐dimensional channel. It was found that the Reynolds number affects mainly the velocity gradient in the flow channeling region, while the particle diameter affects the width of the flow channeling region. As the Reynolds number increases or as the particle diameter decreases (i.e., when the inertia and thermal dispersion effects are enhanced), the Nusselt number increases. The effects of varing the Prandtl number on the magnitude of the Nusselt number were found to be more significant than those of the thermal conductivity ratio. Finally, the effects of varing the duct aspect ratio on the friction factor can be neglected for small particle diameter (D_p ≤ 0.01) or for high particle Reynolds number (Re_d ≥ 1000) due to the dominant bulk damping resistance from the porous matrix (Darcy term) or strong inertia effects (Forchheimer term), respectively.

To investigate the forced convection heat transfer to hydrodynamically and thermally fully developed laminar steady flow of power‐law non‐Newtonian fluid in a partially porous square duct.

The modified Brinkmann‐Forchheimer extended Darcy model for power‐law fluids is used in the porous layer. The solutions for the velocity and temperature fields are obtained numerically using the finite volume method. Computations are performed over a range of Darcy number, power‐law indices, porous insert thickness and thermal conductivity ratio.

The average Nusselt number and the Fanning factor, so obtained are found to be in good agreement with the literature. It is highlighted that a heat transfer improvement is obtained when the channel is entirely porous and this enhancement is maximized at low permeability. While depending on the working conditions, heat transfer enhancement can also be obtained by filling partially the duct with the porous insert, even if the conductivity ratio is equal to 1. The results indicate also that the conductivity ratio has a strong impact on the heat transfer enhancement at high permeability, while this impact is significant beyond a critical thickness of the porous layer at low permeability. It is found that both shear‐thinning (n<1) and shear‐thickening (n>1) fluids allow obtaining the highest Nusselt number according to the properties of the porous insert. The presence of the porous insert causes a significant increase in pressure drop. This added pressure drop is found to be more important with shear thickening fluids (n>1).

The results of this paper are valid for square ducts and H1 thermal boundary condition, corresponding to an axially uniform heat flux and peripherally uniform temperature. The inertial effects are neglected in the porous region.

The obtained results can be used in the design of heat exchangers and in the cooling of electronic equipments.

This work investigates some interesting ways to enhance heat transfer in three‐dimensional square ducts by using porous substrates and non‐Newtonian fluids. It is believed that the case studied in this paper has not previously been investigated.

This paper gives a review of the finite element techniques (FE) applied in the area of material processing. The latest trends in metal forming, non‐metal forming, powder metallurgy and composite material processing are briefly discussed. The range of applications of finite elements on these subjects is extremely wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore the aim of the paper is to give FE researchers/users only an encyclopaedic view of the different possibilities that exist today in the various fields mentioned above. An appendix included at the end of the paper presents a bibliography on finite element applications in material processing for 1994‐1996, where 1,370 references are listed. This bibliography is an updating of the paper written by Brannberg and Mackerle which has been published in Engineering Computations, Vol. 11 No. 5, 1994, pp. 413‐55.

The purpose of the paper is to study natural convection within porous square and triangular geometries (design 1: regular isosceles triangle, design 2: inverted isosceles triangle) subjected to discrete heating with various locations of double heaters along the vertical (square) or inclined (triangular) arms.

Galerkin finite element method is used to solve the governing equations for a wide range of modified Darcy number, Da_m = 10⁻⁵–10⁻² with various fluid saturated porous media, Pr_m = 0.015 and 7.2 at a modified Rayleigh number, Ra_m = 10⁶ involving the strategic placement of double heaters along the vertical or inclined arms (types 1-3). Adaptive mesh refinement is implemented based on the lengths of discrete heaters. Finite element based heat flow visualization via heatlines has been adopted to study heat distribution at various portions.

The strategic positioning of the double heaters (types 1-3) and the convective heatline vortices depict significant overall temperature elevation at both Da_m = 10⁻⁴ and 10⁻² compared to type 0 (single heater at each vertical or inclined arm). Types 2 and 3 are found to promote higher temperature uniformity and greater overall temperature elevation at Da_m = 10⁻². Overall, the triangular design 2 geometry is also found to be optimal in achieving greater temperature elevation for the porous media saturated with various fluids (Pr_m).

Multiple heaters (at each side [left or right] wall) result in enhanced temperature elevation compared to the single heater (at each side [left or right] wall). The results of the current work may be useful for the material processing, thermal storage and solar heating applications.

The heatline approach is used to visualize the heat flow involving double heaters along the side (left or right) arms (square and triangular geometries) during natural convection involving porous media. The heatlines depict the trajectories of heat flow that are essential for thermal management involving larger thermal elevation. The mixing cup or bulk average temperature values are obtained for all types of heating (types 0-3) involving all geometries, and overall temperature elevation is examined based on higher mixing cup temperature values.

This paper is aimed to study natural convection in enclosures with curved (concave and convex) side walls for porous media via the heatline-based heat flow visualization approach.

The numerical scheme involving the Galerkin finite element method is used to solve the governing equations for several Prandtl numbers (Pr_m) and Darcy numbers (Da_m) at Rayleigh number, Ra_m = 10⁶, involving various wall curvatures. Finite element method is advantageous for curved domain, as the biquadratic basis functions can be used for adaptive automated mesh generation.

Smooth end-to-end heatlines are seen at the low Da_m involving all the cases. At the high Da_m, the intense heatline cells are seen for the Cases 1-2 (concave) and Cases 1-3 (convex). Overall, the Case 1 (concave) offers the largest average Nusselt number (Nur¯) at the low Da_m for all Pr_m. At the high Da_m, Nur¯ for the Case 1 (concave) is the largest involving the low Pr_m, whereas Nur¯ is the largest for Case 1 (convex) involving the high Pr_m.

Thermal management for flow systems involving curved surfaces which are encountered in various practical applications may be complicated. The results of the current work may be useful for the material processing, thermal storage and solar heating applications

The heatline approach accompanied by energy flux vectors is used for the first time for the efficient heat flow visualization during natural convection involving porous media in the curved walled enclosures involving various wall curvatures.

The purpose of this paper is to study numerically the fluid flow and heat transfer in an inclined channel provided with heated porous blocks on its lower plate.

The Brinkman‐Forchheimer extended Darcy model with the Boussinesq approximation is adopted for the flow in the porous regions. The governing equations with the appropriate boundary conditions are solved by the control volume method. The effect of some pertinent parameters such as the buoyancy force intensity, the porous blocks shape and height, the porous medium permeability and the Reynolds number are analyzed for various inclination angles ranging from −90° to +90°.

The results reveal, essentially, that the inclination angle of the channel can alter substantially the fluid flow and heat transfer mechanisms, especially at high Richardson and Darcy numbers. In this case, the maximum and minimum global Nusselt numbers are reached for α=+90° and α=−90°, respectively.

The results obtained in this work are valid for an inclined channel with porous blocks attached on the heated parts of the lower plate, whereas the upper wall is thermally insulated.

The results obtained in this worky can be used in the thermal control of electronic components. The use of porous blocks mounted on the heat sources will increase the rate of heat removal in order to maintain the electronic components at an acceptable operating temperature.

The paper provides an interesting method to improve the cooling of electronic devices by use of a porous medium.

This study aims to investigate a critical review on the applications of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) in porous media.

Transport phenomena in porous media are of continuing interest by many researchers in the literature because of its significant applications in engineering and biomedical sectors. Such applications include thermal management of high heat flux electronic devices, heat exchangers, thermal insulation in buildings, oil recovery, transport in biological tissues and tissue engineering. FSI is becoming an important tool in the design process to fully understand the interaction between fluids and structures.

This study is structured in three sections: the first part summarizes some important studies on the applications of porous medium and FSI in various engineering and biomedical applications. The second part focuses on the applications of FSI in porous media as related to hyperthermia. The third part of this review is allocated to the applications of FSI of convection flow and heat transfer in engineering systems filled with porous medium.

To the best knowledge of the present authors, FSI analysis of turbulent flow in porous medium never been studied, and therefore, more attention should be given to this area in any future studies. Moreover, more studies should also be conducted on mixed convective flow and heat transfer in systems using porous medium and FSI.

The wall of the blood vessel is considered as a flexible multilayer porous medium, and therefore, rigid wall analysis is not accurate, and therefore, FSI should be implemented for accurate predictions of flow and hemodynamic stresses.

The use of porous media theory in biomedical applications received a great attention by many investigators in the literature (Khanafer and Vafai, 2006a; Al-Amiri et al., 2014; Lasiello et al., 2016a, Lasiello et al., 2016b; Lasiello et al., 2015; Chung and Vafai, 2013; Mahjoob and Vafai, 2009; Yang and Vafai, 2008; Yang and Vafai, 2006; Ai and Vafai, 2006). A comprehensive review was conducted by Khanafer and Vafai (2006b) summarizing various studies associated with magnetic field imaging and drug delivery. The authors illustrated that the tortuosity and porosity had a profound effect on the diffusion process within the brain. AlAmiri et al. (2014) conducted a numerical study to investigate the effect of turbulent pulsatile flow and heating technique on the thermal distribution within the arterial wall. The results of that investigation illustrated that local heat flux variation along the bottom layer of the tumor was greater for the low-velocity condition. Yang and Vafai (2006) presented a comprehensive four-layer model to study low-density lipoprotein transport in the arterial wall coupled with a lumen (Figure 1). All the four layers (endothelium, intima, internal elastic lamina and media) were modeled as a homogenous porous medium.

Future studies on the applications of FSI in porous media are recommended in this review.

This paper aims to present a reliability performance assessment of electronic packages subjected to harmonic vibration loadings by using a statistical factorial analysis technique. The effects of various geometric parameters, the size and thickness of the printed circuit board and component and solder interconnect dimensions on the fundamental resonant frequency of the assembly and the axial strain of the most critical solder joint were thoroughly investigated.

A previously published analytical solution for the problem of electronic assembly vibration was adopted. This solution was modified and used to generate the natural frequency and solder axial strains data for various package geometries. Statistical factorial analysis was used to analyze these data.

The results of the present study showed that the reliability of electronic packages under vibration could be significantly enhanced by selecting larger and thicker printed circuit boards and thinner and smaller electrical components. Additionally, taller and thinner solders might also produce better reliability behavior.

The results of this investigation can be very useful in the design process of electronic products in mechanical vibration environments.