Physical Fluid Dynamics (Oxford Science Publications)

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 544 pages
• Published by: Oxford University Press, USA
• Edition: 2nd Edition November 3, 1988
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0198544936
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0198544937
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Weighs: 2 pounds

Product Review
From reviews of the first edition: 'reminds one of Prandtl's classic, 'Fuhrer durch die Stromungslehre' well suited as a text for introductory courses addressed to engineering students.' Journal of Fluid Mechanics

'It should be quite straightforward to use Physical Fluid Dynamics as a text for advanced undergraduate or graduate courses[It] is one of those rare books that offers a qualitative advance over what was available previously.' American Journal of Physics on the first edition.

Product Description
This book presents the physics of incompressible flow for the benefit of students and others who need to understand fluid motion. In this new edition, much of the material is new or rewritten, but the purpose and style of the first edition are retained. Particular emphasis is given to information obtained by experiment and observation in addition to analysis of the equations of motion. The book's primary concern is to convey a fundamental understanding of the behavior of fluids in motion. Special features include an introductory non-mathematical treatment of three particular flow configurations; extensive consideration of geophysical topics; and detailed coverage of topics that are known primarily through experimental data. Numerous photographs illustrate the phenomena discussed, and a concluding chapter demonstrates the wide applicability of fluid mechanics. New topics in the second edition include double diffusive convection and modern ideas about dynamical chaos. The discussion of instabilities has been restructured and the treatments of separation and of convection in horizontal layers considerably expanded.

Reader Reviews
This book is not ideal for mathematicians. It is written in the style of a physics book, with a large portion of the book devoted to experimental results; the theory is developed in the context of explaining these results, with little mathematical discussion of the resulting equations beyond asymptotic analysis. (This may be expected, given the word "Physical" in the title.) Overall it is a nice book. But the writing is not as clear as it could be. Some relevant properties of the example flows discussed are not stated explicitly, which I would discover by chance while working with the equations. Many of his derivations are also predicated by overly restrictive/unnecessary assumptions, with no mention of the behavior under other assumptions (although the problems require determining this in order to solve them). He leaves too much as an (often unstated) exercise for the reader. This is the reason I did not rate it five stars.