Anatoly I. Ruban and Jitesh S.B. Gajjar
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 2014, 336 PAGES
PRICE (HARDBACK) £45.00 ISBN 978-0-19968-173-0
This is the first book of a four part series. The aim over the four books is to provide a full and coherent description of fluid dynamics from classical theory for undergraduates in Part 1, providing increasingly advanced material until the books reach the level of current research in the field by the end of book 4: Hydrodynamic Stability Theory.
A description of the chapters follows.
Chapter 1 – Fundamentals of Fluid Dynamics – This chapter starts with the earliest fundamentals, the continuum hypothesis, goes onto thermodynamic relations, kinematics of the flow field (including streamlines), introducing the Navier-Stokes equations and curvilinear coordinates.
Chapter 2 – Solutions of the Navier-Stokes Equations – This chapter considers a number of extremely specific examples of flows, including Couette flow and Poiseuille flow before considering numerical solutions of problems.
Chapter 3 – Inviscid Incompressible Flows – These assumptions simplify the Navier-Stokes equations to the Euler equations. The following options are examined: potential flows, 2-dimensional flows, complex potentials, aerofoils and streamlines.
Chapter 4 – Elements of Gasdynamics – Here compressible flows are studied. This includes the Euler equations for gas flows and piston theory. The integrals of compressible motion are considered. There is a section on steady potential flows, the theory of characteristics, shock waves, supersonic flows and blast waves.
In just over 300 pages the whole of classical fluid dynamics is covered, including many exercises. Due to the need to use multi-variable calculus and also the use of tensors this book is probably best used by students in at least their second undergraduate year. The later parts of the book are probably more suitable for 3rd or 4th year students. The book, however, is very readable.
John Bartlett CMath MIMA
Book review published directly onto IMA website (February 2015)
