Open Channel Hydraulics [Hardcover]

Terry Sturm (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0070624453 | ISBN-13: 978-0070624450 | Publication Date: February 12, 2001 | Edition: 1

* A comprehensive overview of stormwater and wastewater collection methods from around the world, written b leading experts in the field
* Includes detailed analysis of system designs, operation, maintenance and rehabilitation
* Includes recent research advances and personal computer applications

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Terry W. Sturm received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in Mechanics and Hydraulics from the University of Iowa at the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math; 1 edition (February 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070624453
• ISBN-13: 978-0070624450
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #980,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not everyone is so smart, April 4, 2007

By 

Amanda Tan "viciouslips" (Seattle WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Open Channel Hydraulics (Paperback)

For a start, there are certain things I always look for in a textbook. I like to learn both the theory and the application. I like to know how to apply what I learn to a real life setting - which I believe is the sole purpose of any textbook.

Terry Sturm's book fulfills the first part very well - his theoretical overview and insights into open channel flow equations are fantastical. We have integrations, advanced formulae, control volume diagrams and definition of equations. Linear momentum, vector sum of forces blah blah blah.

What we don't have however, are explanations of what everything means (which I suspect is left up to the Professor of the Day, which in my case is a blathering old fogey). It's just regurgitated facts. After the end of an oversaturated chapter, guess what. You don't get examples, instead you get a whole set of problems (with no solutions) - which you are expected to solve by deriving some other equation from the already extensive list of textbook equations. Makes sense? I think not.

Unless you come into the field of open channel hydraulics with a foreknowledge of fundamentals, don't expect anything to make any sense. That plus the outrageous price of the book makes me want to return this.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The most nauseating book I ever touched., January 18, 2008

By 

Joe - See all my reviews

This review is from: Open Channel Hydraulics (Paperback)

I had to add my review after seeing this book's 4-star rating.

The three 5-star reviews here are bogus (his kid). The 4-star review was a mistake.

This book is so utterly horribly written that I wanted to vomit each time I tried to wade through a paragraph. It seems the author convolutes everything in an attempt to fluff up the length of the book. Something that can be stated in a sentence is convoluted into an entire paragraph. It's not only difficult to wade through, it's nauseating. Its 'conversational' narrative (apparently another fluff strategy) is inapropiate for this type of book. The author makes use of many references, in every single paragraph, and spells them all out over and over again. Apparently this was another fluff strategy, and probably adds another 10% to book length.

Not including some answers to the end-of-chapter problems is UNFORGIVABLE. And I'm surprised he didn't take this opportunity to fluff up his book a little more. (oh yeah, the answer index might not have contributed to the official page count)

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Diagrams Please!, December 21, 2003

By 

TANYA WALES (Boise, ID) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Open Channel Hydraulics (Paperback)

The text was ok except for the fact that the chapter problems did not include any illustrations. A lot of time the students had to guess at exactly what Sturm meant. Towards the end of the course it became routine for us to work the problem first and then check in the teacher's key to make sure that we set it up the way Sturm meant for us to. The class was made of seniors and graduate students.

Another problem is that often the student had to infer how Sturm wanted the reader to use the numerous charts based on empirical data. Sturm wasn't always explicit and that caused problems in getting correct values off them.

To be fair, this is a first edition and there are bound to be errors. Hopefully, the next edition is better. My professor loved this book stating that "Sturm gets to the point." He used Chow and Henderson's texts to supplement this book which helped a lot. There were computer programs and examples of their use in the book which I enjoyed and will prove useful to me in the future.