A Brief Introduction to Fluid Mechanics

Citation

Young, D. F., Munson, B. R., & Okiishi, T. H. (2004). A Brief Introduction to Fluid Mechanics (3rd ed.). Wiley.

Chapter Summary

The third edition has eleven chapters, four appendices (unit conversion tables, physical properties of fluids, properties of the U.S. standard atmosphere, and the Reynolds transport theorem), answers to selected problems and an index, in about 560 pages. The publisher's description gives the two guiding principles as "concise and focused" and says the authors present basic analysis techniques and address practical concerns and applications such as pipe flow, open-channel flow, flow measurement, and drag and lift. Each chapter ends with a Chapter Summary and Study Guide. The catalogue gives chapter titles but no section lists, so the entries below describe what the titles name.

Chapter 1: Introduction

The opening chapter; the catalogue gives the title only.

Chapters 2–3: Fluid Statics; Elementary Fluid Dynamics—The Bernoulli Equation

Fluids at rest come first, followed by an elementary treatment of fluid dynamics through the Bernoulli equation. Together they give the first working tools: the pressure field in a static fluid and a simple energy-type relation for flow along a streamline.

Chapters 4–5: Fluid Kinematics; Finite Control Volume Analysis

Kinematics describes how fluid motion is represented, and finite control volume analysis then applies the conservation laws to a finite region of flow. The publisher notes a simplified presentation of the Reynolds transport theorem in this edition, and the theorem has its own appendix.

Chapter 6: Differential Analysis of Fluid Flow

The differential, point-by-point counterpart to the finite control volume approach of the previous chapter.

Chapter 7: Similitude, Dimensional Analysis, and Modeling

The chapter on dimensional analysis, similitude and modeling, placed before the two main application areas.

Chapters 8–9: Viscous Flow in Pipes; Flow Over Immersed Bodies

The two application chapters. Pipe flow appears in the publisher's list of practical concerns, as do drag and lift, which belong to flow over immersed bodies.

Chapters 10–11: Open-Channel Flow; Turbomachines

The final chapters cover flow in open channels and turbomachines. Open-channel flow is also named in the publisher's list of applications.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–3: Introduction, Fluid Statics, Bernoulli Equation

• Fluid statics: the pressure distribution in fluids at rest and its consequences.
• Bernoulli equation: the elementary relation linking pressure, speed and elevation along a flow.

Chapters 4–7: Kinematics, Control Volumes, Differential Analysis, Similitude

• Finite control volume analysis: applying conservation laws to a defined region of space.
• Reynolds transport theorem: the result that converts laws for a system into statements about a control volume, with an appendix of its own.
• Differential analysis: describing flow at a point rather than over a region.
• Dimensional analysis and similitude: reducing a problem to dimensionless groups so that results scale between model and prototype.

Chapters 8–11: Viscous Flow, Immersed Bodies, Open Channels and Turbomachines

• Viscous flow in pipes: pipe flow, one of the applications the publisher names.
• Drag and lift: forces on bodies in a flow.
• Open-channel flow: flow with a free surface.
• Turbomachines: machines such as pumps and turbines that exchange energy with a fluid.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Concise by design. The publisher states that the two guiding principles are to be concise and focused. The book runs to about 560 pages, with eleven chapters.
• Many worked examples and varied problems. More than 100 worked examples are listed, and homework problems in every chapter include open-ended problems, problems based on CD-ROM videos, laboratory problems and computer problems.
• Study aids. The third edition adds simple figures in the margins, Chapter Summary and Study Guide sections, highlighted key words, a simplified presentation of the Reynolds transport theorem and new homework problems in every chapter.
• Multimedia material. A packaged CD-ROM, Fluid Mechanics Phenomena, offered 75 short video segments, 30 extended laboratory-type problems, experimental data in Excel format and 168 review problems.

Limitations

• Narrower than a full course text. There is no chapter on compressible flow or potential flow, and differential analysis is a single chapter. Courses that cover these topics will need a longer book.
• Older media. The CD-ROM is a feature of the third edition. Readers using a copy without it, or using a later edition, will not have it.
• Edition differences. The contents above are those of the third edition (April 2004). Later editions add authors and change the contents, so check the edition before comparing chapter numbers with the list above.

Where It Fits in the Course

Young, Munson and Okiishi's brief text is a one-semester introduction to fluid mechanics, with the main building blocks of the subject in eleven chapters. White and Xue's Fluid Mechanics is the fuller alternative: its ninth edition has eleven chapters too but spends them differently: it adds chapters on potential flow with computational fluid dynamics and on compressible flow, and places a chapter on differential relations before dimensional analysis. Choose Young and colleagues for a shorter, application-led course and White and Xue for fuller derivations and wider coverage.

Two further books suit different starting points. Nakayama's Introduction to Fluid Mechanics uses photographs and illustrations of real flows to introduce the subject and also treats pipe and channel flow, boundary layers, drag and lift, with an introduction to compressible flow and computational methods. Lauga's Fluid Mechanics: A Very Short Introduction uses almost no equations and is a conceptual preview. Beyond the course, Kundu, Cohen, Dowling and Capecelatro's Fluid Mechanics is a graduate-level treatment developed from the governing equations, and Anderson's Fundamentals of Aerodynamics continues into airfoils, wings and compressible flow.

How to Use This Book

The book suits engineering students taking a one-semester fluid mechanics course who want the core of the subject with applications. The catalogue states no prerequisites; a calculus-based physics course is the usual background.

• Core: Chapters 1–5 in order: properties, statics, the Bernoulli equation, kinematics and control volume analysis. These are the tools that the later chapters use.
• Applications: Chapters 8 and 9 on pipe flow and immersed bodies are the usual next step; Chapter 7 on dimensional analysis and similitude comes before them in the book.
• Optional or as time permits: Chapter 6 on differential analysis, and Chapters 10 and 11 on open-channel flow and turbomachines, depending on the syllabus.

Work through the chapter summaries and study guides before the homework, and try the open-ended and laboratory-style problems where available.