Pollution of the Rhine River: An introduction to numerical modelling

• Pollution of a river permitted to propose a realistic and motivating context.
• The use of a learning model helped us to design the laboratory.
• The evaluation of the laboratory by the students allows analyzing the strengths and weaknesses.

This study describes the implementation and evaluation of an effective laboratory to learn the basics of numerical modelling. This laboratory is used as an introduction to an efficient use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools for third year undergraduate students. The laboratory is delivered at Chimie ParisTech. The subject has been chosen on motivational, technical and pedagogical criteria and is based on the pollution of the Rhine River that occurred in 1986 after a major blaze. The model is based on a simple 1D advection-diffusion equation. The laboratory is described using Lebrun's learning model: motivation, information, activities, interactions and productions. We present the evaluation of the laboratory based on a survey including the evolution of the perceived skill level by the students.