Abstract

The wide spread of obtainable, personal computers has opened doors to vast computational capabilities which enforced educational systems especially engineering programs to develop proficiency in using computers along with experiments and theories. Teaching techniques have changed accordingly, and appropriate methods were required. An example of that development was shown in the course of Hydraulics given to Environmental Engineering undergraduate students. Students in the past spent much time on the iterative solving method used in hydraulic problems and expended a lot of energy to find the solutions. Today instead, a commonly known program called MATLAB has proven efficiency and brought great easiness which not only assisted engineers in their work but also allowed them to drive more attention on reasoning and interpretation. In this regard, three examples of hydraulic problems related to determining the minimum diameter of a pipe, the depth of uniform flow in an open channel, and the hydraulic load over a sharp-crested weir are explained with fully executable MATLAB codes for the solution. This study requires basic understanding of Hydraulics and familiarity with MATLAB. It benefits any branch of engineering concerned with hydraulics.

Keywords

iterative-based problems, hydraulics, MATLAB, engineering problems, calculations, solving methods