2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Virtual Reality (VR) applications allow students to experiment with facilities that are too large, too dangerous, or too expensive for a classroom setting, while also providing portable experiments suitable for remote education. Three VR software packages have been developed for use in the undergraduate chemical engineering laboratory. The first module concerns process control fundamentals through a video game-like simulation of fluid flow through coupled tanks with feedback control of liquid levels. This module was employed as a remote laboratory experiment during the pandemic as well as a team-based semester project in our process control course. The second VR module simulates a photocatalytic, continuous-flow, stirred tank reactor (CSTR) in a fictional wastewater treatment facility. This module enables a hybrid pedagogical approach in which students first characterize chemical reaction kinetics in a benchtop batch reactor in the physical laboratory. Kinetic parameters are inputs for a VR simulation in which students design a scaled-up CSTR and optimize its economics, subject to process constraints. The third VR simulation concerns transport in fluid-particle systems and supports a design-build-test paradigm within a senior laboratory course. The VR simulation works in tandem with MATLAB scripts and COMSOL Multiphysics simulations of fluid flow to predict transport of particles in a liquid stream flowing through maze-like architectures. Students use the VR application to design a maze-like fluidic separator, which is later fabricated by 3D printing and subjected to fluidic testing in the physical laboratory.

Implementation of VR modules in educational settings requires that the technology is accessible to all students, and is therefore not dependent upon students owning specialized hardware or operating systems. VR applications were developed in the Unity Real-Time Development Platform 3D game engine, which enables executable builds for multiple operating systems. Given that students own a diverse array of laptop and desktop computers, it is critical that the VR applications run on the most common operating systems and pose modest system requirements. In choosing between laptop/desktop format vs. fully immersive (headset) format, one must consider that most students do not own VR headsets. The process control and reactor design modules, which were used as a remote laboratory experiment during the pandemic, were therefore deployed in a laptop/desktop format that does not require a headset. The reactor design module was later refactored to work in fully immersive format with VR headsets, which were purchased by the school and kept in the senior laboratory for in-person use. The fluid-particle simulation was subject to additional constraints due to its reliance upon third-party software that has licensing constraints. This simulation and the auxiliary software were therefore installed on a laboratory computer for use by all students in the course during in-person laboratory hours.

A crucial outcome of the VR modules was that students were able to conduct experiments remotely during the pandemic when the physical laboratory was inaccessible. Results suggest that an entirely virtual laboratory course could be developed for the sake of future pandemic preparedness. For in-person education, hybrid approaches involving synergistic VR simulations and physical experiments enhance laboratory course outcomes, rather than sacrificing hands-on experience, by providing an efficient means to link laboratory experimentation with design and scale-up concepts.