Perspectives in Fluid Dynamics: A Collective Introduction to Current Research

Now available in paperback, this wide-ranging text on modern fluid mechanics research includes sections on modelling the environment, physiology and magnetohydrodynamics. At the same time, the book discusses basic physical phenomena such as turbulence that still present fundamental challenges. Conventional textbooks cannot hope to give graduate students more than an inkling of what topics are currently being researched, or how to make a choice between them. This book aims to rectify matters, at least in part. It consists of eleven chapters that each introduces a different branch of the subject. Though not exhaustive, the coverage is broad: thin-film flows, Saffman-Taylor fingering, flows in arteries and veins, convective and absolute instabilities, turbulence, natural convection, magnetohydrodynamics, solidification, geological fluid mechanics, oceanography and atmospheric dynamics are all introduced and reviewed by established authorities. Thus the book will not only be suitable for graduate-level courses but also for specialists seeking introductions to other areas.