Need a Book on Hydrodynamics for Your Master's Degree in Physics?

[dsatkas]

I just started my master's degree in physics and one of the courses I've chosen is hydrodynamics. Since i have never done anything similar to this in my undergrad, i feel a bit lost and i would like to start with some sort of an introduction to the subject or fluid mechanics in general and work my way to more advanced bibliography. So, the description of the contents goes like this: ''We will give an introduction to the hydrodynamics of simple liquids. This classical field theory is governed by conservation laws, that will lead us to the Euler equation and to the famous Navier-Stokes equation. Among the diverse subjects that can be described by this theory are the dynamics of vortices and the existence of boundary layers (both important for aerodynamics), the friction-dominated Stokes limit that is important for small scale objects in flow (e.g. suspensions), and hydrodynamic instabilities, that led to the discovery of deterministic chaos and which are crucial for understanding weather and climate. Finally, we will also discuss current research topics like the recently discovered ‘active fluids’, i.e. suspensions of swimming bacteria or artificial microswimmers.''

The suggested bibliography is E. Guyon et al. Physical Hydrodynamics, Oxford (2001) and Landau & Lifshitz Vol 6: Fluid Mechanics

Any help would be appreciated

 

[phyzguy]

As usual, I would recommend starting with the Feynman lectures on Physics. Volume 2, Chapters 40 and 41 discuss fluid mechanics, including Euler's equations and the Navier-Stokes equation. Feynman gives a variety of physical examples to motivate the equations and solutions. After reading and assimilating these two chapters, you should have the basics and be ready to move on to something more detailed.

 

[jasonRF]

Another possible source is the undergrd lecture notes by prof. Fitzpatrick at UT Austin,
http://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching.html

Also check out your university library. You will be able to actually look through books and figure out which one(s) work for you. I took a similar course that used Tritton's Physical Fluid Dynamics along with Landau and Lifshitz. Along with things like the fluid equations and the Navier Stokes equation, Tritton had some nice descriptions, discussions of experimental work, and intuitive discussions that supplemented the more terse and mathematically advanced treatment of Landau. But I really suggest looking at books in the library before buying anything. I wish you the best,

Jason

 

[vanhees71]

A brandnew marvelous book is

O. Regev, Modern Fluid Dynamics for Physics and Astrophysics, Springer 2016

The only drawback is that, other than the title suggests at least to me, there's nothing about relativistic fluid dynamics in this book, which has made a lot of progress in the recent years. In Landau Lifshitz vol. 6, which is one of my favorites (as are all 10 volumes of this theory course) you find a short introduction to ideal relativistic fluid dynamics.

 

[dsatkas]

The notes by Fitzpatrick seem like what i need. Thank you