Uni Reading List
Index / 001 EN
Fluid Mechanics cover

Engineering

Engineering

Fluid Mechanics

Pijush K. Kundu; Ira M. Cohen; David R. Dowling; Jesse Capecelatro

A broad graduate-level textbook, often called simply Kundu, that develops fluid mechanics from the governing equations through classical analytical solutions to modern topics. Its seventh edition, revised by Dowling and Capecelatro, keeps the physical explanations and adds computational worked examples and exercises in MATLAB alongside the traditional analysis.

Prerequisites: An undergraduate fluid mechanics course, vector calculus, and ordinary and partial differential equations.

Difficulty Level
Advanced
Academic Level
Graduate
fluid mechanicsboundary layersturbulencevorticitycompressible flowTextbook

01 / Reading Guide

Reading Guide

Citation

Kundu, P. K., Cohen, I. M., Dowling, D. R., & Capecelatro, J. (2024). Fluid Mechanics (7th ed.). Academic Press (Elsevier).

Chapter Summary

The seventh edition has fifteen printed chapters, one further chapter available online only, and four appendices. The publisher counts 144 worked examples and 568 exercises, of which 10 examples and 66 exercises are new in this edition, along with computational examples and exercises using MATLAB. It adds that much of the text has been rewritten and that the chapter ordering has been revised. The book was begun by Pijush Kundu and Ira Cohen; David Dowling and Jesse Capecelatro prepared this revision.

Chapters 1–3: Introduction; Cartesian Tensors; Kinematics

The book begins with an introduction, then puts the mathematical language, Cartesian tensors, ahead of the physics, and follows with kinematics, the description of fluid motion.

Chapters 4–6: Conservation Laws; Vorticity Dynamics; Computational Fluid Dynamics

Conservation laws are the dynamical core. Vorticity dynamics follows, and a chapter on computational fluid dynamics sits at this point in the sequence, in keeping with the publisher's note that the edition adds computational material.

Chapters 7–9: Ideal Flow; Gravity Waves; Laminar Flow

Three chapters of classical analysis: ideal flow, gravity waves and laminar flow.

Chapters 10–12: Boundary Layers and Related Topics; Instability; Turbulence

Boundary layers lead into the question of when flows become unstable and then into turbulence.

Chapters 13–15: Geophysical Fluid Dynamics; Aerodynamics; Compressible Flow

The book closes with three application areas named by the publisher: geophysical fluid dynamics, aerodynamics and compressible flow.

Online chapter and appendices

Chapter 16, Introduction to Biofluid Mechanics, is online only. The appendices are conversion factors, constants and fluid properties; mathematical tools and resources; founders of modern fluid dynamics; and visual resources.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–6: Foundations

  • Cartesian tensors: the notation used to write the governing equations compactly.
  • Kinematics: description of fluid motion before its causes are considered.
  • Conservation laws: mass, momentum and energy balances applied to a fluid.
  • Vorticity dynamics: how rotation in a flow evolves.
  • Computational fluid dynamics: numerical solution of flow problems.

Chapters 7–12: Classical flows

  • Ideal flow: flow without viscosity.
  • Gravity waves: wave motion driven by gravity at interfaces.
  • Laminar flow and boundary layers: viscous flow, and the thin layers near surfaces.
  • Instability and turbulence: how flows depart from steady laminar motion.

Chapters 13–15: Applications

  • Geophysical fluid dynamics: large-scale flows of the atmosphere and oceans.
  • Aerodynamics: forces on bodies moving through air.
  • Compressible flow: flows in which density changes matter.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

  • Broad scope in one volume. The contents reach from tensors and conservation laws through waves, instability and turbulence to geophysical flow, aerodynamics and compressible flow, which makes the book usable for either a first or second graduate-level course according to the publisher.
  • A large problem supply. With 568 exercises and 144 examples, instructors and self-learners have material at several levels; 66 exercises are new in this edition.
  • Computational examples. The new MATLAB worked examples and exercises, and the chapter on computational fluid dynamics, tie classical analysis to current practice.
  • Revised and rewritten. The publisher notes that much of the text was rewritten for clarity and the chapter order revised.

Limitations

  • Level. The publisher aims it at senior undergraduates and graduates and says it accommodates upper-level students with minimal prior study of fluid mechanics; the sequence nevertheless starts with Cartesian tensors and conservation laws, so the early chapters are mathematical before any application appears.
  • Breadth over depth for specialists. Aerodynamics and compressible flow occupy one chapter each, so readers in aerospace will want a specialised text.
  • Online-only material. The biofluid mechanics chapter is not in the printed book.

Where It Fits in the Course

Among the books in this fluid mechanics course, Kundu is the broad, graduate-oriented treatment. Fluid Mechanics: A Very Short Introduction and Nakayama's Introduction to Fluid Mechanics (which leans on flow visualisation) are the gentlest starts, and A Brief Introduction to Fluid Mechanics and White and Xue's Fluid Mechanics are the standard engineering routes through fluid statics, conservation laws and viscous flow, with White and Xue the more comprehensive of the two. Kundu then takes the same subject further: tensor notation, vorticity, waves, instability, turbulence and geophysical flow. Fundamentals of Aerodynamics by Anderson is the specialised follow-up for the aerodynamics and compressible-flow chapters.

How to Use This Book

The book suits senior undergraduates and graduate students in mechanical, civil, aerospace, chemical and biomedical engineering, as well as in physics, meteorology, geophysics and applied mathematics. A prior introductory course in fluid mechanics, vector calculus and differential equations will make it far easier.

For a first graduate course, work through Chapters 2 to 5 and Chapter 7, then select among Chapters 9 to 12. Choose Chapters 13 to 15 according to the course's emphasis: geophysical flow, aerodynamics or compressible flow. Use the MATLAB exercises in the computational chapter and in the examples for a numerical component, and use the appendices, especially the mathematical tools, as reference. With 568 exercises, there is room to assign a graded selection: a few examples and exercises per chapter to check understanding, with the harder ones saved for the topics central to the course. The appendices also list visual resources and the founders of modern fluid dynamics, which can be consulted for background alongside the chapters.