Customer Reviews

An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics (Cambridge Mathematical Library)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

G.K.Batchelor was regarded as the leading figure in fluid mechanics from 1950 ~ 2000. He was a founder of AMTP(Applied mathmatics and theoretical physics) group in Cambridge Univ. and also a founder of 'Jounal of Fluid Mechanics', a leading and top class journal in the field of fluid mechanics. Also was a favorite student of G.I.Taylor.

I think this volume is a bridge between the old classic(ex. H. Lamb's Hydrodynamics) and today's many texts for fluid mechanics somewhat biased to applications and computations.

It deals with all branches of fluid mechanics except Gas dynamics, free convection, lubrication theory, magnetohydrodynamics and hydrodynamics stability. The first three chapters summarise basic concepts in thermo & fluid mechanics and trasport phenomena. I think chapter 1,2,3 are very severe and deep. And there are collections of important photos of fluid phenomena.(You can also refer M. Van Dyke's 'An album of fluid motion)

Although the title is 'An introduction to...' it's not an introductory level, and the mathematics it deals are somewhat omitted. I think this text is an advance graduate level.

This classic text outlines the fundamental theory of fluid mechanics. It is an excellent source for careful and exhaustive derivations of the fundamental equations and physical discussions of basic problems. It is NOT a user's guide nor an introductory text.

If you get through this text, you are on your way to fluid dynamics mastery. It covers much more than most engineering students will need (or care to) know. It is an important text, but should be a complementary study aid.

Although I do think that the book is over-rated, your critique is unfair. First, the book is not too advanced. Similar materials are used to teach university students in their 3rd or 4th year of studies, sometimes even earlier, in many countries. If you are not able to grasp the basic, how are you going to read the current papers in journals? How are you going to contribute new knowledge? It's better to start early with a young mind. Then, it is not a reference book (I don't need to say more in this). Also, you may be in the wrong course, or your professor suggested an unsuitable, but not necessarily bad, book for reading. The book was written with applied mathematics (you can surf around the net and see what applied mathematics means in the UK) courses in mind. You may find Lighthill's 'An informal introduction to theoretical fluid mechanics' or Tritton's 'Physical fluid dynamics' or Faber's 'Fluid dynamics for physicists' useful. Finally, I have confidence in the ability of a Berkeley student. You maybe smart, but you need to work hard too, very hard!

I think that a proper name for this book should be something like: Aspects of Fluid Dynamics, and not Introduction to Fluid Dynamics. It is by no means an introduction, but it is also not a comprehensive book (for example, compressible flow is completely missing). Personally, I haven't done fluid dynamics for more than 20 years (after being a fluid dynamicist), so I re-read this book to refresh my knowledge. Therefore, it is hard for me to tell if a complete stranger to this field can master the book, but my bet is no. I also suspect that the author took for granted that the reader can guess the missing steps in many of the derivations; sometimes, the text looks like a survey, and all you can do is to try your luck in deriving yourself, or to find the proper reference. He also uses vector and tensor notations interchangeably, and sometimes is it a bit irritating.
Saying all these negative things (minus one star), I still consider it as an excellent book, and as an important reference. Written by a mathematician, the math is rigorous (also, I didn't find typos), and in addition, there are plenty of physical explanations. In addition to the regular derivation of the basic equations, the book presents various interesting phenomena (as expected from the editor of JFM); from drops in creeping flow, to rotating geophysical flow. Also, a comprehensive treatment of vorticity, and also a nice derivation of the added mass tensor in impulsive flow (although classical Lamb's Hydrodynamics does the best job on this issue).
To summarize, it is a mind stimulating book, some parts are really fun to read, it presents a wide range of phenomena, but it is not the proper book for novices in fluid dynamics.

This is the best book on fluid dynamics. But it is actually not an "introductory" level book, so the beginners are not advised to start from this book. Moreover, it may not even be an appropriate TEXTBOOK for some intermediate-level (graduate) fluid dynamics courses (but indeed an excellent book for interested readers).

This book is for those who determine to work on fluid dynamics and those who require a relatively high level in theory.

This book introduces lots of stuffs. I will consider it
as reference purpose. Not that good for learning, especially
for beginners. If one has another book as textbook already,
with this book, he can have more comprehensive thinkings
about fluid dynamics. It's a good book right on from
textbooks to special-purposed books.

You can usually tell when a textbook is written by an author from Cambridge. Batchelor is no exception. Classical approach with emphasis both on the theory as well as devolpment of a deep and intuitive understanding of concepts. The overall approach is fabulous, and Batchelor goes to painstaking details to explain concepts. The few complaints I have regarding the book though are that: 1) Being a mathematics student, I would have enjoyed seeing some complex methods of solving the fluid motion equations(specifically laplace's eqn) 2) Some of the explanations were a little long and repetitive. Could have been more concise in certain areas, and given readers some credit for capacity to understand.

I used Batchelor several years ago for an introductory course in fluid dynamics for physic students, and found it generally satisfactory. It is probably the best available overall introduction. The negative review from the Berkeley student reflects more upon the student than upon the book, in my opinion.

I remember being introduced to this book by my PhD advisor a few years ago. I asked for an itroductory course in Fluid Mechanics, and he simply said "We'll, that oughtta be Batchelor! It's an unmatched classic". Purchasing my own copy was just a matter of time. If you ever wondered how to familiarize yourself with the field, your search is over - this is a definitive, high-level, brilliantly written course with good mathematical background and a certain charm.