Fluid mechanics. Foundations, basic equations, solution methods, software examples (Q2783405)

This book gives an introduction to foundations of fluid mechanics, describes its fundamental equations, introduces several useful concepts for flow analysis, and presents the basics of CFD suitable for a mechanical engineering student. The first chapter is aimed at whetting reader's appetite by a collection of flow examples from nature and technology. This is followed by a chapter covering the fundamental concepts of hydro- and aerostatics and dynamics. The core of book is a chapter in which the most important equations of fluid mechanics, e.g. compressible Navier-Stokes and energy equations, boundary layer equations, and equations for potential flow, are derived in detail step-by-step. Simple turbulence models are also treated, including the \(K\)-\(\varepsilon\) model. In most cases, a compact coordinate-independent notation is avoided in favor of explicit Cartesian coordinates. The next chapter introduces dimensional analysis, stability, topological methods, and the basic discretizations for the most common CFD techniques. Finally, a series of examples from aerodynamics and from technical flows are presented together with numerical solutions obtained by the software package STAR-CD an by the authors' own software available through the Internet. Since the book does not intend to treat all the subjects in depth, the reader is frequently referred to references (mostly books).