Introduction to Experimental Techniques:

Introduction

Engineers are often required to design and analyze processes that involve spatial and temporal variations in the relevant parameters. Examples range from heat and mass exchangers, engines, turbines, all the way to aircrafts and submarines. In such applications, design and analysis are facilitated by experiments on a laboratory scale, so that critical phenomena can be localized and studied in detail. The present chapter surveys the conceptual framework needed to conduct dedicated, laboratory scale experiments.

The process being designed may comprise intermediate steps which are elementary, or may be in the form of a network of components that are individually simple. In each case, the system design can proceed from first principles applied to the components, wherein the model parameters are estimated from engineering handbooks. At the other end, one may encounter systems of great geometric, structural or phenomenological complexity. The first-principles approach in these cases may either work out to be too complicated or may not be possible at all. In such cases, experimental techniques become useful since the system can be subjected to a known input function and its response can be measured in real-time under reference conditions.