Basic Fluid Mechanics

by David C. Wilcox

Basic Fluid Mechanics is based upon Dr. David C. Wilcox's more than 25 years of teaching beginning and intermediate undergraduate courses in fluid mechanics at USC and UCLA. The book provides a rigorous and understandable, two-semester, introduction to fluid mechanics. It gives an excellent introduction to elements of computational fluid dynamics, and includes practical software to help master the concepts. While maintaining a commitment to mathematical rigor throughout, the text continually emphasizes the physics of fluid motion. The text has had extensive peer review, and promises to be a classic. It has already been adopted for use at approximately 50 universities in the USA and abroad. The book's success thus far has been at universities that object to the continual "dumbing down" of undergraduate texts. Basic Fluid Mechanics is an exciting and innovative junior/senior level text that provides an introduction to the basic concepts of fluid mechanics. It has also been used as an introductory text for graduate students with no prior knowledge of fluid mechanics. The book recognizes the fact that the modern fluid dynamicist has three research tools at his or her disposal, namely, analytical methods, experimentation and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). It makes full recognition of this triad of approaches that constitute today's unified theory of fluid mechanics. By design, the book uses only the most basic elements of vector calculus. Nevertheless, the book is designed to counter the dumbing-down fad favored by the major book publishing companies. This book rejects the modern, watered-down approach that (in at least one modern text) apologizes for the need to use concepts from freshman calculus and (in most cases) emphasizes everything but the basics of fluid motion.

856 pages, Hardcover

First published January 28, 1997