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Fluid Mechanics with Student Resources DVD ReviewÇengel and Cimbala: Fluid Dynamics
I have only read chapter 1.
This is an attractive book, but even in the first chapter I have many complaints. Here are the main ones.
- I was unable to understand some of the figures on fluid flow. What exactly is being shown in Figure 1-9, 1-11, 1-17, and what is the `tower' on its side in Figure 1-23
- there are a number of photographs which were made using Schlieren photography. This is a very useful technique, but it is not explained except in the vaguest terms later in the book.
- On page10 is stated "There is no fluid with zero viscosity ...". This is incorrect. The superfluid phase of liquid helium has no viscosity, with many strange consequences. This may not be relevant to the book, but should have been mentioned, perhaps in a footnote, so that students will be aware of it.
- On page 11, the symbol for Mach number is introduced as Ma. Using two characters for a variable is very bad practice. It looks just like the product of M and a. Thus if it appears in equation it would be indistinguishable from mass time acceleration, or something else if M and a had other uses. Since there are not enough letters in the English and Greek alphabets it is normal to use subscripts and superscripts to distinguish different quantities when needed.
- on pages 13-14 they talk about one, two and three dimensional flows. Then they tell you that the number of dimensions of a flow depends on the coordinate system used for its description. This is unreal, an artefact. A one-dimensional flow does not suddenly become two-dimensional when you change your coordinate system; it remains one-dimensional.
- on page 19 there is a nice discussion of the relation between energy and power, and a very welcome example of a meaningless statement of a type that commonly appears in the press. This is inexcusably followed by an example in which the reader is invited to "... determine the amount of electric power generated by the wind turbine and the money saved by the school per year." ; power was stated when energy was meant.
- on page 20 there is discussion of the fact that the pound is a unit of force and the kilogram is a unit of mass, and then they make it clear how force and mass are related in the English and SI systems of units. If a students understands this he or she will then be confused by the text at the top of p.21 where conversions are provided. As well the table of unity conversions needs commas separating them as it otherwise looks as though they should be multiplied as I originally thought.
- there follows an example in which the reader is invited to prove that the weight of a 1 pound mass is 1 pound force on earth. The solution simply applies the definition of the pound mass which is defined as the mass for which the gravitational force is 1 pound force. This is a pedagogical wrong. This whole topic would be much better taught without introducing the unnecessary concept of a pound mass. Students would find it simpler.
- on page 22 there is a figure with a child holding up a box of cereal and labeled "A quirk in the metric system of units." There is no quirk in the metric system. I have no idea what this figure was intended to show.
- The final section of chapter 1 is on accuracy, precision and significant digits. It shortly gives an example - and shows the answer to too many significant digits!
- The discussion on significant digits provides a general rule as to how many should be given in the answer, but it only applies when two numbers are multiplied. Nowhere is it pointed out that the rule does not apply when numbers are added, squared, a square root taken, or something more complicated. This is a serious omission.
- The first problem I read at the end of the chapter refers to a "two-dimensional circular cylinder"; A cylinder has three dimensions. I gave up at this point and read no more.
If the rest of the book is like this first chapter I cannot recommend it.
David Huntley
Professor Emeritus,
Physics Dept.,
Simon Fraser University
Fluid Mechanics with Student Resources DVD OverviewFluid Mechanics: Fundamentals and Applications, communicates directly with tomorrow's engineers in a simple yet precise manner. The text covers the basic principles and equations of fluid mechanics in the context of numerous and diverse real-world engineering examples. The text helps students develop an intuitive understanding of fluid mechanics by emphasizing the physics, using figures, numerous photographs and visual aids to reinforce the physics.Fluid mechanics is by its very nature a highly visual subject, and students learn more readily by visual stimulation.This text distinguishes itself from others by the way the material is presented - in a progressive order from simple to more difficult, building each chapter upon foundations laid down in previous chapters.In this way, even the traditionally challenging aspects of fluid mechanics can be learned effectively.
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