A First Course in Computational Fluid Dynamics

Fluid mechanics is a branch of classical physics that has a rich tradition in applied mathematics and numerical methods. It is at work virtually everywhere, from nature to technology. This broad and fundamental coverage of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) begins with a presentation of basic numerical methods and flows into a rigorous introduction to the subject. A heavy emphasis is placed on the exploration of fluid mechanical physics through CFD, making this book an ideal text for any new course that simultaneously covers intermediate fluid mechanics and computation. Ample examples, problems and computer exercises are provided to allow students to test their understanding of a variety of numerical methods for solving flow physics problems, including the point-vortex method, numerical methods for hydrodynamic stability analysis, spectral methods and traditional CFD topics.

1. CFD in perspective; 2. Mappings; 3. Ordinary differential equations – initial value problem; 4. Spatial discretization; 5. Boundary and Eigenvalue ODEs; 6. Methods based on functional expansions; 7. Partial differential equations; 8. Multi-dimensional partial differential equations; References; Index.