Re: [Phys-L] Suggestion for Fluid mechanics textbook

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 02/05/2015 06:20 PM, Karim Diff wrote:
> I have a student in my first semester physics with calculus course who
> asked me for a suggestion for a textbook on fluid mechanics (he is an
> engineering major). Does anyone have a recommendation for a "gentle"
> introduction to the subject ? This is only our 4th week but this student
> seems strong and motivated, so I think he will be able to handle a text at
> the sophomore-junior level.

The only way to approach such a question is to get
the student to narrow the question.  What subset
of fluid dynamics is he interested in, and why?

Feynman once said that fluid mechanics was more
complicated than quantum field theory.  It's a
good place to look if you're looking for a challenge,
but just saying "I want to learn fluid dynamics"
is not a good place to start.

Lots of people think they understand fluids, but
don't.

I assume he already knows the simple stuff such
as Archimedes' principle and Pascal's law.

There are also some "relatively" simple formulas for
fluid flow in pipes.

Here is a possible next step:  Maybe he is thinking of 
becoming either a pilot or an aeronautical engineer.
  http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/aerospace-engineers.htm
  http://www.bls.gov/ooh/transportation-and-material-moving/airline-and-commercial-pilots.htm
There are some relatively nontechnical descriptions 
of how a wing works.  A lot of effort has gone into 
simplifying the presentation to make it accessible to
non-experts, but even so it remains complicated enough
to be interesting.  You can start here:
  https://www.av8n.com/how/htm/airfoils.html

An annotated bibliography is here:
  https://www.av8n.com/how/htm/bibl.html
Stay away from the references marked "technical",
because they are tremendously technical.  It took
me a year to learn enough math to get through such
books.  That's a year on top of a physics PhD.

Another possible career choice is meteorology and
climatology.
  http://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/atmospheric-scientists-including-meteorologists.htm

In terms of the physics, one place to start is 
Bernoulli's principle.  I get half a million hits:
  https://www.google.com/search?q=bernoulli%27s+principle+OR+equation
but beware!  Most of them are either misleading
or completely wrong.  A relatively careful derivation
(actually two derivations) can be found here:
  https://www.av8n.com/physics/bernoulli.htm

If the kid is good with computers, he should download
a copy of xfoil or su2 and play with it.  In the 
real world, people rely on CFD (computational fluid
dynamics) to figure out how fluids behave.  If he
isn't good with computers, he needs to get good ...
or find something other than fluid dynamics to be
interested in.  This probably isn't the sort of 
answer that was expected, but still it is an 
important part of any correct answer.

At the next level, there are a couple of nifty
chapters on fluids in Feynman volume II
  http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_toc.html
  Ch. 40: The Flow of Dry Water
  Ch. 41: The Flow of Wet Water
However, this demands more than one semester of calculus.
A lot more, including div, grad, curl, Stokes, et cetera.
Some students will be intrigued by this, while others
will just be scared off.

Beyond that, things get even more complicated.
There is Euler's equation of motion:
  https://www.av8n.com/physics/euler-flow.htm
and then there are the Navier-Stokes equations.
It is not even know /whether/ such equations 
can be solved.  There is a million dollar prize 
waiting:
  http://www.claymath.org/millennium-problems
  http://www.claymath.org/millennium-problems/rules-millennium-prizes
  http://www.claymath.org/millenium-problems/navier%E2%80%93stokes-equation
  http://www.claymath.org/sites/default/files/navierstokes.pdf

----------------

Bottom line:  There is no textbook of the kind
requested, and never will be.  This is just not
a first-semester topic.