Aerospace Students: How close is thermofluids to aero?

[martinlematre]

I wish I could go to a university with aerospace/astronautical engineering. At my uni, we only have mech electrical chem etc. The closest thing to aero is limited entry "thermofluids" option you can take in 3rd year mechanical engineering. I plan to get a masters in astronautical engineering/aerospace engineering and want to know how applicable what I plan to do now (thermofluids) will be to astro/aero eng masters

 

[boneh3ad]

Well that depends on what "thermofluids" entails at said university. I got a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and focused my electives on the thermal fluid sciences and then am just about finished with a PhD in aerospace engineering and it was a perfectly acceptable preparation. There are definitely areas where I am not as familiar with certain aspects of aerospace as those who did it as a four-year program, but I haven't found that limiting at all. After all, fluids behave according to the same rules whether it is in a pipe or over a wing.

Just try to make sure you get a chance to at least take viscous flow and compressible flow as an undergraduate and you ought to be able to figure it out just fine from there.