This article presents a teaching-learning methodology for the course ''Hydropower and Ocean Power'' in the Master of Renewable Energy Program at the Technical University of Cartagena (Spain). In line with the famous ''Bologna Declaration,'' a new teaching approach is proposed, in order to ensure that students acquire skills related to the ability of analyzing and designing Hydraulic Machinery. The roles of the tutor facilitator, as well as the use of freehand sketches and the Matlab programming to optimize the management of commercial CFD packages, are some specific features of the project. ß

This paper presents a procedure for the improvement of the reflective learning in Engineering, including the use of MATLAB for problems solving. Three effects are produced in students. The first, the searching of the solution of a particular case is substituted by the modeling of the general problem. The second, a reflection on their theoretical knowledge is encouraged. The third, the motivation for an autonomous learning of MATLAB is increased, taking into account the clear interest of this tool in the teaching-learning in Engineering. Lastly, several benchmark problems are presented and discussed. ß 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 24:755-764, 2016; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae;

ResumenSe presenta una propuesta de metodología docente para la asignatura "Energía Hidráulica y Energía del Mar" en el Máster de Energías Renovables de la Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (España). A partir de la experiencia docente adquirida en dos cursos, se propone un enfoque didáctico acorde con el Plan Bolonia, para conseguir que el alumno adquiera competencias relacionadas con la capacidad de analizar y proyectar maquinaria hidráulica. Se ha elegido la simulación numérica del flujo a través de una turbina Kaplan. Se incluyen los enfoques de aprendizaje basado en problemas y basado en proyectos, y se incorpora además la figura del tutor facilitador como elemento clave. Se utiliza el software comercial Matlab como herramienta de traducción de geometría al programa mallador Gambit, desde donde se exporta la geometría, la malla y las condiciones de contorno al código CFD Ansys-Fluent. Se facilitará al alumno la adquisición de conocimientos sobre turbinas hidráulicas a través de distintos proyectos de simulación numérica. Palabras clave: estudios de máster, máquinas hidráulicas, dinámica de fluidos computacional, aprendizaje con proyectos Flow Simulation in a Kaplan Turbine using Computational Fluid Dynamics: Development of a Teaching-Learning Method AbstractThis paper presents a teaching-learning methodology for the course "Hydropower and Ocean Power" in the Master of Renewable Energy at the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (Spain). From the experience gained in two courses, a teaching approach according to the Bologna Declaration, to ensure that students acquire skills related to the ability of analyzing and designing hydraulic machines is proposed. In particular, The numerical simulation of the flow through a Kaplan turbine was chosen for study. The method includes the problem-based learning and the project-based learning approaches, as well as the concept of facilitator-tutor as a key element of the method. The commercial software Matlab is employed as a tool to translate the geometry to the meshing software Gambit; from where the mesh and the boundary conditions are translated to the Ansys-Fluent CFD code. The aim is to provide the students with relevant knowledge on hydraulic turbines through different numerical simulation projects.