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Article
Publication date: 10 August 2020

Zejing Qu, Wen Huang and Zhengjun Zhou

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of applying sustainability to the engineering curriculum at a university in China.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of applying sustainability to the engineering curriculum at a university in China.

Design/methodology/approach

A new curriculum, “ethics, involvement and sustainability,” was designed and presented to engineering students from an undergraduate major in quality management engineering. This curriculum incorporated knowledge acquisition and skills training into sustainability via various teaching approaches in a mandatory curriculum at Tongling University, China. Pre- and post-questionnaire surveys, as well as a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model, were adopted to evaluate the changes in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of respondents before and after curriculum implementation.

Findings

Significant changes in knowledge and attitudes were observed following the implementation of the curriculum. In terms of the development of new behaviors, the changes tended to be moderate. Generally, respondents were satisfied with the effectiveness of the new interdisciplinary curriculum post-implementation.

Practical implications

Positive results were observed for the pilot and practice of the new engineering education (NEE) strategy at the cooperating university in China. Specifically, the integration of sustainability into curriculum design, implementation and evaluation inspired greater social responsibility in engineering students’ decision-making processes. Additionally, it shed light on how to integrate the concept of sustainability into curricula. One limitation of this study was the absence of a comparison group that did not experience the new curriculum.

Originality/value

Scant attention has been paid to local universities in the context of the newly-launched NEE strategy. This study provides new insight regarding the implementation of sustainability into engineering curricula and practice via formal, but diversified, teaching approaches.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 21 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

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Article
Publication date: 5 October 2012

Yang Zhengjun and Wang Fujun

Large eddy simulation (LES) is widely used in prediction of turbulent flow. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new dynamic mixed nonlinear subgrid‐scale (SGS) model (DMNM)…

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Abstract

Purpose

Large eddy simulation (LES) is widely used in prediction of turbulent flow. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new dynamic mixed nonlinear subgrid‐scale (SGS) model (DMNM), in order to improve LES precision of complex turbulent flow, such as flow including separation or rotation.

Design/methodology/approach

The SGS stress in DMNM consists of scale‐similarity part and eddy‐viscosity part. The scale‐similarity part is used to describe the energy transfer of scales that are close to the cut‐off explicitly. The eddy‐viscosity part represents energy transfer of the other scales between smaller than grid‐filter size and larger than grid‐filter size. The model is demonstrated through two examples; one is channel flow and another is surface‐mounted cube flow. The computed results are compared with prior experimental data, and the behavior of DMNM is analyzed.

Findings

The proposed model has the following characteristics. First, DMNM exhibits significant flexibility in self‐calibration of the model coefficients. Second, it does not require alignment of the principal axes of the SGS stress tensor and the resolved strain rate tensor. Third, since both the rotating part and scale‐similarity part are considered in the new model, flow with rotation and separation is easily simulated. Compared with the prior experimental data, DMNM gives more accurate results in both examples.

Originality/value

The SGS model DMNM proposed in the paper could capture the detail vortex characteristics more accurately. It has the advantage in simulation of complex flow, including more separations.

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