11R11. Perspectives in Flow Control and Optimization. - MD Gunzburger (Iowa State Univ, Ames IA). SIAM, Philadelphia. 2003. 261 pp. ISBN 0-89871-527-X. $70.00.

Reviewed by HG Wood, III (Dept of Mech and Aerospace Eng, Univ of Virginia, Thornton Hall, McCormick Rd, Charlottesville VA 22903-2442).

For anyone interested in flow control or optimization, this book is a must read. Max Gunzburger has done a truly commendable job of providing his perspectives on the subject, and his perspectives are very well informed. He states in the preface that his first goal is “to present an introduction to the development and analysis of several methods,” and this is done very well. He also raises issues that arise in the field, and the book has an outstanding bibliography that can lead the reader to other sources. He also points out that this book is not a complete treatment of the subject, as that would take several times the size of this book. However, the book is large enough to provide a really good introduction to the subject but small enough not to be intimidating.

The book consists of seven chapters with the first being a brief history and introduction to the subject. Chapter 2 discusses the different approaches to optimal control and optimization that include the one-shot method and the sensitivity and adjoint based methods. The discussion is clear and provides information in a way that the reader could develop an algorithm from the presentation. Chapter 3 provides illustrations of the approaches discussed in Chapter 2.

Chapter 4 deals with accuracy and consistency, and Chapter 5 discusses how to reduce the costs of optimization. Chapter 6 presents analysis and numerical analysis of optimal flow control problems. One of the examples is the analysis of a shape control problem for the stationary Navier-Stokes equations. The examples are very well presented and allow the reader to get a very good foundation that provides the necessary information to attack new more complicated problems. Chapter 7 is a brief discussion of feedback control for fluid flows.

In conclusion, this is a very well written book that should be part of the library of anyone interested in fluid dynamics or optimization. This book could also be used as a textbook for a graduate course on the subject.