Hydrodynamic Instabilities

The instability of fluid flows is a key topic in classical fluid mechanics because it has huge repercussions for applied disciplines such as chemical engineering, hydraulics, aeronautics, and geophysics. This modern introduction is written for any student, researcher, or practitioner working in the area, for whom an understanding of hydrodynamic instabilities is essential. Based on a decades experience of teaching postgraduate students in fluid dynamics, this book brings the subject to life by emphasizing the physical mechanisms involved. The theory of dynamical systems provides the basic structure of the exposition, together with asymptotic methods. Wherever possible, Charru discusses the phenomena in terms of characteristic scales and dimensional analysis. The book includes numerous experimental studies, with references to videos and multimedia material, as well as over 150 exercises which introduce the reader to new problems.

Spis treści:
Preface
1. Introduction
2. Instabilities of fluids at rest
3. Stability of open flows, basic ideas
4. Inviscid instability of parallel flows
5. Viscous instability of parallel flows
6. Instabilities at low Reynolds number
7. Avalanches, ripples, and dunes
8. Nonlinear dynamics of systems with few degrees of freedom
9. Nonlinear dispersive waves
10. Nonlinear dynamics of dissipative systems
11. Dynamical systems and bifurcations
Appendix. The Saint–Venant equations
Bibliography
Index.