INTERNET BOOK ON FLUID DYNAMICS

© Christopher Earls Brennen

Preface

The 36 lectures presented here were recorded by the undergraduates enrolled in a two-term course on fluid mechanics in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the California Institute of Technology. At the time the author and lecturer was the Richard L. and Dorothy M. Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering and had taught this undergraduate course (ME19) many times during a faculty career of over forty years at the Institute. Neither the course nor the lecture room in which it was held exists today having been modernized in the interim.

The material presented was originally based on a marvellous textbook entitled "Fluid Flow" written by my colleagues Allan Acosta and Rolf Sabersky. Originally the course was presented over three terms and included material on compressible flow and gas dynamics but the latter subjects had to be omitted when the course was shortened to two terms so that other basic material could be incorporated into the mechanical engineering curriculum. In the third term students who wished to do so could take a graduate level course that included compressible flows.

"Fluid Flow" was also one of the foundations for my "Internet Book on Fluid Mechanics". which students will find complementary to these lectures. Moreover that resource includes the homework and exam problems that are referenced during these lectures as well as the solutions to those problems.

The 36 lectures consist of two terms each with 18 lectures. Two 1.5 hour lectures were presented each week. In addition, each week the teaching assistants held voluntary homework/tutorial sessions of indeterminate duration and reference is made to those sessions during the lectures. The author always sought out the very best graduate students for this task and Jeff Hanna (who appears in the first video) was among the very best.

At the end of the second term, the author, as was his tradition, hosted a fun party at the Caltech Swimming Pool ostensibly in order to demonstarate "Underwater Bicycle Racing". The video of this event is appended to the lecture series as a finale. Many guests, faculty members and staff also seemed to enjoy the event.


Last updated 4/6/04.
Christopher E. Brennen