the senior level or in first graduate courses. Many excellent books exist that
treat special areas of fluid mechanics such as ideal-fluid flow or boundarylayer theory. However, there are very few books at this level that sacrifice an
in-depth study of one of these special areas of fluid mechanics for a briefer
treatment of a broader area of the fundamentals of fluid mechanics. This
situation exists despite the fact that many institutions of higher learning
offer a broad, fundamental course to a wide spectrum of their students
before offering more advanced specialized courses to those who are specializing in fluid mechanics. This book is intended to remedy this situation.
The book is divided into four parts. Part I, ‘‘Governing Equations,’’
deals with the derivation of the basic conservation laws, flow kinematics,
and some basic theorems of fluid mechanics. Part II is entitled ‘‘Ideal-Fluid
Flow,’’ and it covers two-dimensional potential flows, three-dimensional
potential flows, and surface waves.