Customer Reviews

Theoretical Hydrodynamics (Dover Books on Physics)

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Milne-Thomson's text is a about 40 years more recent than Lamb's Hydrodynamics, and I think it is slightly superior (but only slightly). The notation is a little more compatible with that used in more modern texts, and the text, while still laid out in the "short article" format, flows a little better than Lamb's.

Milne-Thomson makes a lot of use of the complex variable and complex potential methods, which can be used only for inviscid flow problems. As a result, this book is strong in air-foil problems, conformal mapping, and high Reynolds number flows, but less strong in viscous flow regimes. There are also nice sections summarizing notation, vector identities, tensors, Gauss's theorem, Stokes's theorem, Green's theorem and many other useful mathematical tools.

A compilation of classic results in the field. Not the book to read for an introduction to the subject but indispensable as a reference. Better than Lamb in my opinion, but if you're going to buy one you should get the other.

As soon as I needed to make use of this book I found how good it was at its explanantions and even for a novice in the area it was well written and clear. Somehwat old now but nonetheless a solid introduction to hydrodynamics in the tradition of Lamb. It sits well next to that beacon of fluid mechanics Batchelor.