Elements of Fluid Mechanics is the fourth engineering book by Dr. Wilcox, and is based upon his more than 25 years of teaching beginning, intermediate and graduate courses in fluid mechanics at USC and UCLA. The book provides an understandable, one-semester, introduction to fluid mechanics. While maintaining a commitment to mathematical rigor throughout, the text continually emphasizes the physics of fluid motion. Mathematical results are repeatedly reinforced and verified by appealing to physical arguments.

By design, the book uses only the most basic elements of vector calculus. Nevertheless, the book is designed to counter the dumbing-down fad favored by the major book publishing companies. This book rejects the modern, watered-down approach that (in at least one modern text) apologizes for the need to use concepts from freshman calculus and (in most cases) emphasizes everything but the basics of fluid motion. Consistent with its theme of emulating the golden-age of fluid mechanics, even the graphics have been done in a format typical of the 1960s and 1970s.

Overview: Chapter 1 familiarizes the student with the nomenclature of fluid mechanics as well as some commonly observed features of flowing fluids. Chapter 2 covers dimensional analysis, a topic that immediately preceded the rapid development of theoretical fluid mechanics in the twentieth century and helped organize the empirical relationships, experimental data and formulas devised in the hydraulics era of the nineteenth century.

Chapter 3 discusses the pressure field in a fluid, including effects of gravity. The chapter introduces the famous equation attributed to Bernoulli and its limiting form for a motionless fluid, the hydrostatic relation. It also covers straightforward methods that permit computation of forces and moments on submerged stationary structures such as dams.

Chapter 4 derives the all-important Reynolds Transport Theorem for a one-dimensional geometry and heuristically generalizes it for three-dimensional flows. Chapters 5 and 6 develop the integral forms of the basic conservation laws for a control volume in a straightforward manner using the Reynolds Transport Theorem.

Chapters 5 through 8 focus upon the classical control-volume method, which provides a global view of fluid mechanics. Using the integral form of the conservation laws for mass, momentum and energy, these chapters discuss general fluid-flow phenomena, typical flowfields and common fluid-mechanical devices.

Applying the integral form of the conservation laws to a differential-sized control volume, Chapter 9 shifts the emphasis to a detailed view of fluid mechanics through the differential form of the conservation laws. Chapters 9 through 11 illustrate the detailed view for low-speed flows.

Theme: The text provides worked examples for addressing all of the key concepts presented in this book. To assist the student in developing the ability to apply the concepts, many of the most complex homework problems at the end of each chapter have multiple parts that lead the student through a logical sequence of steps to develop the solution. In this sense, some of the homework problems can be viewed as pseudo-examples. Numerous homework problems require only an algebraic result. More often than not, the answers are even rigged to involve only rational numbers to help simplify the algebra. This is a reflection of a desire to stress the importance of understanding the physics, rather than improving the student's calculator skills.

It also permits emphasizing the importance of good engineering practices such as checking mathematical results for dimensional consistency and examining limiting cases for which properties of the solution are evident. Of course, some feel for the magnitudes of quantities of interest in practical fluid flows is needed, and problems have been included throughout the text that require a numerical answer.

Scope: The material presented in this book is appropriate for a one-term, junior or senior level undergraduate course. Successful study of this material requires an understanding of basic calculus and elementary mechanics. Some exposure to thermodynamics is helpful but not required. Chapter 6 provides an overview of the most important concepts needed from the science of thermodynamics.

This text contains more than enough material for a one-quarter course at most universities. This permits the instructor to choose the topics most pertinent to the curriculum. All students will benefit from the material presented in Chapters 1 through 6, 8, 9 and 11. These chapters provide the foundation for learning the classical control-volume method, the invaluable tool of dimensional analysis and the differential form of the conservation laws. This exposes the student to the primary techniques that have been used so successfully in developing both design methods and general theoretical tools.

The student will find practical applications of the control-volume method in Chapter 6, viz., pipe flow and open-channel flow. With its focus on turbomachinery, Chapter 7 provides a quintessential example of how effective the combination of dimensional analysis and the control-volume method is in developing an understanding of complex fluid flows. For a course that includes some exposure to solving the differential equations of motion, Chapter 10 explores the fascinating topic of potential flow.

Noteworthy features of Elements of Fluid Mechanics:

• Above all, the book has integrity in the sense that the book has a central theme revolving around the control-volume method, dimensional analysis, establishing logical problem-solving methods, and continually stressing the physics of fluid motion (as opposed to the disorganization that often grows out of a long series of revisions).
• It is accompanied by a 1,285-page, typeset solution manual developed by the author (as opposed to the common practice of having a graduate student prepare the solution manual).
• More than 900 homework problems ranging from straightforward to truly challenging, and sometimes humorous -- the problems are designed to stimulate abstraction (as opposed to solving by rote).
• It includes numerous home experiments that students can perform with no special laboratory equipment.
• Solutions to odd-numbered problems are included in the back of the book.

The CD also includes a complete set of Dr. Wilcox's lecture notes that have been developed at USC and UCLA during the past 26 years. They have been prepared as a Power Point Presentation. There are almost 500 slides that address all major topics covered in the text. They should be especially helpful to a professor who is teaching the course for the first time who needs to develop a set of lecture notes. The CD includes the Power Point source files so that they can be modified for personal taste and need. The veteran teacher with an established set of lecture notes can make use of some of the figures, graphs and tables to further enhance his or her existing presentation.