Welcome to the Web Based Virtual Laboratory Homepage!

The overall goal of the senior design project was to successfully design a water-towing tank that will enable students to analyze flow of water over various objects. The water-towing tank consists of an object suspended and able to be pulled at a constant rate while being imaged. A partially functional system was designed and fabricated during the 1999-2000 semesters. After a full understanding of the client statement was understood, the system was designed on paper. A comparison will then was made between this paper-based model and the existing system. From this comparison, necessary modifications were made. In the final stages of the experiment, the flow visualization facility was made available for distance learning usage. Students are now able to remotely access and control real laboratory instruments, thus conducting actual experiments through a computer network and ultimately enhancing their grasp of the subject at hand.

This project involves pragmatic application of previously learned topics within the mechanical design process as well as the learning and full understanding of the components required in making the system remotely available.

Concurrent to the design process, a methodology as to how to configure instruments and data analysis remotely via software was explored and implemented. The system is based on LabVIEW coupled with other Internet programming techniques. In the future, the remote laboratory system will take user commands, relay them to LabVIEW which would in turn control the real instruments in the laboratory. For more information, go to the “reports” links on the left side of your browser.

Click here to go to the experiment.