Introduction and Overview

As indicated in the Preface, the main objectives of this book are to provide the reader, in a unifying way, with classical material in fluid mechanics and convection heat transfer and to introduce him or her to basic techniques for modeling engineering fluid dynamics systems. Thus, studying the book in a formal graduate course setting may enhance the student's physical understanding, increase problem-solving skills, and build up confidence to solve other thermal flow problems not discussed in this text. The approach and objectives of problem-solving steps, or in more complex cases “model development” in the engineering sciences, are summarized in Fig. 1.1. This sequence will be highlighted throughout.

The material in Chapters 1 and 2 together with Appendices A and B may equalize readers' different entry levels in fluid dynamics, systems analysis, and engineering mathematics. Specifically, in Section 1.2.1, the two fundamental flow field descriptions (i.e., Lagrange vs. Euler) are reviewed; Sections 1.2.2–1.2.4 discuss the kinematics of shear flow (i.e., fluid element translation, rotation, and deformation), thermodynamic properties (e.g., pressure, temperature, density, and entropy), and transport properties (e.g., viscosity, conductivity, and diffusivity). Some basics of particle dynamics are extended to fluid particle dynamics in Section 1.3. Differential operators and cartesian tensor applications, useful for Sections 1.2.2 and 1.3 as well as for Chapter 2 are summarized in Appendix A. Fluid flow systems under consideration in Chapters 1–5 are restricted to single-phase flow, continuum mechanics, deterministic processes, and Eulerian flow descriptions (cf. Sect. 1.4).