7R41. Analytical Fluid Dynamics, Second Edition. - G Emanuel (Dept of Mech and Aerospace Eng, Univ of Texas, Arlington TX), CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton FL. 2001. 790 pp. ISBN 0-8493-9114-8. $89.95.
Reviewed by M Gad-el-Hak (Dept of Aerospace and Mech Eng, Univ of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN 46556).
This is the second edition of a graduate-level textbook that first appeared in 1994. The author is a distinguished teacher and scholar of fluid mechanics, particularly compressible flows. The book contains some original research, but also much of the fundamentals needed for a first graduate-level course in fluid dynamics. The emphasis is on compressible flows and the analytical, in contrast to numerical or empirical, approach. Much new material has been added since the first edition, increasing the original 424 pages to 790 pages, and the 18 chapters to the present 23.
The book is organized into five parts: Basic Concepts, Advanced Gas Dynamics, Viscous/Inviscid Fluid Dynamics, Exact Solutions for a Viscous Flow, and Laminar Boundary-Layer Theory for Steady Two-Dimensional or Axisymmetric Flow. Each chapter has its own list of references and a limited number of problems suitable for the classroom. Unlike the first edition, however, the present book does not provide hints for answers to the problems.
New chapters in the second edition include Calorically Imperfect Flows; Sweep; Interaction of an Expansion Wave with a Shock Wave; Unsteady, One-Dimensional Flow; and Force and Moment Analysis. Chapters dominated by the author’s own scholarly work and unique to this book include The Substitution Principle; Sweep; and Second-Order Boundary-Layer Theory. The discussion on the second coefficient of viscosity and bulk viscosity, a controversial subject prone to errors in most other textbooks (see Journal of Fluids Engineering, vol 117, no 1, pp 3–5, 1995), is superb in the present book, reflecting George Emanuel’s seminal contributions to this issue.
The pluses for this book are the precise mathematics, the broad coverage, the increased emphasis on practicality, and the lucid, personable writing style. First principles are emphasized, and empiricism is kept to a minimum and clearly flagged when used. The author does state at the outset that major topics such as turbulence, computational fluid dynamics, and rarefied gas flows are left to other more specialized books. On the negative side, discussion of the physics is often austere and the book has the feel of enhanced classnotes. More discussion of the limits of the different approximations used such as the continuum hypothesis, the incompressible flow assumption, and the inviscid flow approximation would have been most welcome. The book does not contain a single photograph, a most curious omission in a treatise about fluid flows. Students would have benefited greatly from seeing a picture of an oblique or bow shock wave. The organization could have been streamlined a bit, perhaps avoiding going back and forth between compressible and incompressible flows.
This reviewer was not impressed with the production job performed by CRC Press. Several typographical errors were found including a glaring one in the back cover. A half decent copy editing job should have spotted those. The typesetting appears to be quite unprofessional, resembling more desktop publishing or camera-ready manuscript. In particular, all equations containing vectors are eye sores and do not have the crisp look that can be obtained nowadays with readily available software such as La-TeX. The line drawings are amateurishly generated as well as poorly reproduced. The particular copy this reviewer received came unglued presumably as a result of the trauma of double shipping, first to Applied Mechanics Reviews then to the reviewer.
The present book competes with many good ones on the same general topic. Panton’s Incompressible Flow, while limited in its discussion of compressible flows, provides an excellent, comprehensive introduction at the graduate level. Saad’s Compressible Fluid Flow is suited for both senior undergraduate students and first-year graduate ones. Anderson’s Modern Compressible Flow and Hypersonic and High Temperature Gas Dynamics provide a broader coverage while staying more approachable to the students. Emanuel’s Analytical Fluid Dynamics is precise in its mathematics and offers more rigorous analysis, but needed more fillings between the numerous equations, more pedagogical material. This reviewer recommends the present book Analytical Fluid Dynamics for fluid dynamics scholars searching for a serious reference book on continuum, compressible, laminar flows, but recommends something else for the classroom.
