Peer Review

Understanding Aerodynamic Drag

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Feb 23, 2025 by Engineering

Bookmark

Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: Drag and lift are the forces which act on a body moving through a fluid, or on a stationary object in a flowing fluid. We call these aerodynamic forces (if the fluid is a gas) or hydrodynamic forces (if the fluid is a liquid). This video is all about the drag force. There are two main causes of drag - first we have the pressure distribution around the object, which is particularly significant if flow separation occurs. And then we have the shear stresses acting on the object, which are most significant for streamlined bodies.
Type of Material:: Animation (video)
Recommended Uses:: It could be recommended for courses on mechanical properties of materials in fluid mechanics engineering topics. Useful for traditional and hybrid/blended teaching
Technical Requirements:: Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers were used to access the material. It seems that all facilities are active for any browser.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: The major learning goal of the video is to explain the concept of aerodynamic drag, its causes, and how to reduce it in various engineering applications. It aims to help students and professionals in fluid mechanics understand the principles behind drag forces, such as friction and pressure drag, and explore practical solutions for minimizing drag in design. The target audience includes learners with a basic understanding of fluid dynamics and engineering principles.
Target Student Population:: Grade School, Middle School, High School, College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Basic knowledge of physics.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: The video presents drag phenomena in relation with fluid moving around an object. It essentially describes the relationship between the pressure, friction, and drag of a flowing fluid around an object. This video shows how several approaches can be used to explain drag, and it explores a range of different applications. Contents are presented in a clear and concise manner. The contents are core concepts in basic fluid mechanics in engineering courses. Information is provided accurately and summarizes well the main ideas.
Concerns:: No concerns.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: The material could be used for self-learning as well as a supplementary material in traditional or blended/hybrid courses on fluid mechanics. The learning objectives are clearly stated. Physical phenomena and examples concerning the drag forces acting on an object moving in a fluid are presented graphically, easy to understand.
Concerns:: As corresponds to video materials, to become useful for effective learning it should be combined with extra exercises and quizzes, or to become integral part of additional lectures on the topic of fluid mechanics.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The video is a standalone material, easy to use. Only connection to the Internet and link to the video repository is needed. It can be reproduced in computer, iPad and smartphone. Visual design of the video corresponds to a succession of pictures as the explanations are given.
Concerns:: As corresponds to video materials, limited interactivity.

Other Issues and Comments:: In recent years, video has become part of education as a learning and communication medium to transfer knowledge, visualize a process or even analyze a situation. Its use continues to increase in pedagogies. Today, digital, more particularly, video, is used to provide online training, hybrid training and flipped classroom. The use of these videos, as a complementary tool, improves some of the initial topics in the fields of engineering technologies.
Creative Commons: