Customer Reviews

Internal Flow: Concepts and Applications (Cambridge Engine Technology Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is not a good text to use if your plan is to teach yourself the material. It is only good as a nice compact reference assuming you've learned the material elsewhere.

It is hard to use this book to teach yourself the material because various non-explained assumptions are often made, statements are often never clarified, equations are simply presented but hardly ever worked out/derived, no examples problems exist, etc. And for the material that is simply "thrown" at you, no references are listed to sources that could possibly better explain what you just read.

If you are a fluid mechanics professor looking for a nice reference for your shelf, this book is probably good. If you are a student trying to teach yourself new concepts on your own time, look elsewhere.

I'd also like to point out that the notation in the book is horrendous. It uses an i,j summation notation that I've never seen before. It is quite annoying having to deal with a unique notation system in addition to the material itself.

Lastly, as the previous reviewer pointed out, the book is riddled with typos and errors. This is annoying because you never know whether you can trust a certain result or formula as presented, and you have to go back and try to derive it yourself.

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I'm editing my review. This book is more of an internal flow encyclopedia than anything else. Assuming you use it as a reference, it has pretty much everything you could ever need hidden in its pages, or it at least references to the appropriate paper. It's a difficult book to deal with, but is extremely useful.

This books offers a very complete view of fluid dynamics as they pertain to flow through turbomachinery, ducts, nozzles, etc. When on travel I often take only this book to use as a reference since its coverage of the essentials is so thorough - from the foundations of fluid mechanics, the Navier-Stokes Equations, thermodynamics, boundary layer theory. When using this book for research I have found it invaluable that they develop nearly every concept from the fundamental relationships into more complex ideas. It really allows readers to grasp ahold of the physical insights behind the at-first complex behaviors being discussed. The balance of equations, commentary, and experimental data from numerous sources allows reader of all learning styles to form a concrete mental picture of the concepts without becoming bored.

The only serious drawback to this book is the numerous errors that litter some of the chapters. There is a Text Errata available from the author, but it is still a pain to even have to doubt the accuracy of the material.