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Instability of flows and their transition to turbulence are widespread phenomena in engineering and the natural environment. They are important in applied mathematics, astrophysics, biology, geophysics, meteorology, oceanography, physics, and engineering. This is a graduate-level textbook to introduce these phenomena by modeling them mathematically, and describing numerical simulations and laboratory experiments. The visualization of instabilities is emphasized with many figures. Many worked examples and exercises for students illustrate the ideas of the text. Readers are assumed to be fluent in linear algebra, advanced calculus, elementary theory of ordinary differntial equations, complex variable and the elements of fluid mechanics. The book is aimed at graduate students, but is very useful for specialists in other fields.
List of contents
1. General introduction; 2. Introduction to steady flows, their instability and bifurcations; 3. Kelvin-Helmholtz instability; 4. Capillary instability of a jet; 5. Development of instabilities in time and space; 6. Rayleigh-Bénard convection; 7. Centrifugal instability; 8. Stability of parallel flows; 9. Routes to chaos and turbulence; 10. Case studies in transition to turbulence; References; Index.
Summary
Instability of flows and their transition to turbulence are widespread phenomena in engineering and nature, and are also important in many applied sciences. This is a textbook to introduce these phenomena at a level suitable for a graduate course, by modelling them mathematically, and describing numerical simulations and laboratory experiments.
