2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Rapid growth in undergraduate enrollment in engineering disciplines has intensified challenges in delivering effective laboratory-based instruction, particularly in courses with limited physical resources and equipment. In the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AAE) and the School of Mechanical Engineering (ME) at Purdue University, the number of students in the required undergraduate fluid mechanics and aerodynamics laboratories has more than doubled over the past decade, resulting in excessively large lab groups and diminished opportunities for hands-on engagement. To address these constraints, a multidisciplinary team from AAE, ME, and the School of Engineering Education (ENE) has developed a Virtual Lab platform designed to complement and extend physical laboratory instruction through interactive, web-based simulations.
The Virtual Lab replicates the experience of a low-speed wind tunnel experiment, enabling students to place probes, record flow data, and visualize velocity and pressure fields in a three-dimensional environment. High-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations provide the underlying flow data. A virtual Wake Survey experiment was developed to parallel the physical experiment in which students measure wake velocity profiles behind a cylinder using a hot-wire anemometer or Pitot-static probe. Virtual sensors were modeled to include realistic error behavior, such as yaw-angle sensitivity and measurement noise.
The Virtual Lab platform was piloted in AAE33301 and ME30801, one-credit laboratory courses teaching the technical background of experimental techniques used in fluid mechanics. The Virtual Lab was implemented in two different ways: 1) as a pre-laboratory exercise in AAE33301 and 2) as a replacement for a physical lab in ME30801. In AAE33301, more than 250 students over three semesters (Fall 2022, Spring and Fall 2023) completed a pre-laboratory assignment where they performed a wake scan experiment for flow over a cylinder in the virtual wind tunnel. Post-lab surveys were used to assess the Virtual Lab’s usability, learning impact, and overall value using a Likert scale and open-ended responses. The response to the virtual lab platform was overwhelmingly positive, with respondents expressing overall satisfaction with the virtual lab experience, emphasizing its role in enhancing their understanding of theoretical concepts and preparing them for the physical lab. Open responses provided useful information for improving the usability of the interface. Students perceive the virtual labs as helping them to prepare for their time in the labs and complete their post-lab assignments. Future studies are planned to quantify the impact on students’ performance in the physical lab to identify changes in their ability to self-regulate their inquiry process during the lab. In ME30801, one of the standard labs was replaced by an entirely virtual lab where the students combined wake measurements in the virtual wind tunnel with control volume analysis to estimate drag on a cylinder. Data from a pilot study of the entirely virtual lab conducted in Spring 2024 will be analyzed and compared with the results from the virtual pre-lab studies in AAE33301. This paper details the potential impact of the virtual lab and opportunities for sharing these learning resources with the engineering education community.