11R10. Foundations and Applications of Mechanics, Volume II: Fluid Mechanics. - CS Jog (Dept of Mech Eng, Indian Inst of Sci, Bangalore, 560 012, India). Narosa Publ, New Delhi, India. Distributed in USA by CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton FL. 2002. 435 pp. ISBN 0-8493-2413-0. $89.95.
Reviewed by EE Covert (Dept of Aeronaut and Astronaut, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Rm 9-466, Cambridge MA 02139-4307).
This book is reasonably well described by its title, although the applications of fluid mechanics occur in such a large number of technical activities that any selection of applications is necessarily limited. Volume I is entitled Continuum Mechanics, and some of the material in Volume II relies on the earlier work. The chapter titles in this volume are 1, Kinematics and Governing Equations (101 pp); 2, Hydrostatics (17 pp); 3, Ideal Fluid Flow (62 pp); 4, Surface Waves (35 pp); 5, Exact Solutions to Flow Problems of an Incompressible Viscous Fluids (41 pp); 6, Laminar Boundary Layer Theory (49 pp); 7, Low Reynolds Number Hydrodynamics (19 pp); and 8, Compressible Flow (61 pp). Each chapter contains a number of sample problems as well as exercises for the student. Both types of problems seem to be well formulated and of a reasonable level of difficulty.
In his Preface the author writes, “Although we feel that this book treats many topics in a new way, the topic where the treatment is significantly different is that of compressible flow. We have tried to present closed-form solutions whenever possible, some of which we believe to be new. We also emphasize obtaining the solution directly by numerical techniques… .”
The subject matter in Chapter 1 follows the structure developed by Truesdale, Noll, and others at the Institute for Rational Mechanics. After worked-out examples of more elementary topics, the chapter concludes with development and use of the integral momentum theorem. The material in Chapters 3 through 7 is presented in a more or less conventional manner.
The concepts behind compressible flow are introduced by means of a one-dimensional control volume, including terms representing the rate of bulk heat addition. The author’s solution to these problems leads to a simple classification scheme showing the regions where a solution exists, and the character of the solutions as well. The author has also simplified the manner of presenting the relation between the flow deflection, the shock wave angle, and the Mach number for two-dimensional supersonic flow.
The use of linearization in the treatment of surface waves as contained in Chapter 4 is introduced without adequate preparation in the reviewer’s view. Nonetheless, this introduction simplifies the discussion of acoustic waves in the following chapter. Further, the author fails to provide any computer codes, relying on existing commercial computer codes and failing to point out the difficulties the student may face if the details of the code are handled improperly due to inexperience. With his focus on rigor, the reviewer feels the author obscures the physical phenomena.
Further, because of the author’s choice of topics, several important subjects in modern fluid mechanics are not mentioned or mentioned very briefly. The omitted topics may lead the student to feel that fluid mechanics is a closed topic. However, unsteady flow and turbulence, serious computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and flow with separation and/or heat transfer problems are not mentioned, or briefly mentioned in passing. The reviewer feels these truly difficult fluid mechanics research issues would warrant a mention, at least in the Preface. The reviewer has concluded that Foundations and Applications of Mechanics: Volume II Fluid Mechanics has been prepared for third- or fourth-year students in mathematics or perhaps in classical physics, who deserve a somewhat broader outlook on fluid mechanics.
This book may be best suited for a serious practitioner who is interested in a more rigorous view of the underlying assumptions upon which fluid mechanics rests. The first half of Chapter 1 is ideal for this purpose.
