An immersive virtual reality learning environment with CFD simulations: Unveiling the Virtual Garage concept

Area of Science:

• Engineering Education
• Virtual Reality Applications
• Computational Fluid Dynamics

Background:

• Virtual reality (VR) offers cognitive and behavioral benefits for education.
• Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are crucial in chemical engineering but present implementation challenges.
• Existing educational tools may not fully address the complexities of CFD for students.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate
• Virtual Garage
• a task-centered VR application integrating CFD simulations for engineering education.
• To assess the usability, user experience, and effectiveness of the VR application.

Main Methods:

• Development of the
• Virtual Garage
• immersive VR application.
• Testing with 24 graduate students using questionnaires and interviews.
• Evaluation of usability, user experience, task load, and simulator sickness.

Main Results:

• The
• Virtual Garage
• was well-received by participants.
• Positive feedback on the immersive VR experience and its educational value.
• Identified areas for enhancing VR applications with CFD simulations.

Conclusions:

• VR applications like
• Virtual Garage
• can effectively support engineering education.
• The application successfully tackles challenges associated with CFD simulations in learning environments.
• Provides practical insights for developing future educational VR tools.