No label defined (Q4490855)

This monograph is intended as an introductory textbook for graduate students who want to study in detail the boundary-layer theory. The book is divided into the introductory chapter 1 and three main parts. Chapter 1 ``Mathematical and fluid mechanical introduction'' covers Euler and Navier-Stokes equations (together with Stokes and Oseen approximations), asymptotic methods in mathematics, and, as an application of asymptotic methods, presents the basic boundary-layer theory, including many historical remarks. A more sophisticated asymptotic boundary-layer model is described in part I (``The triple deck'', chapters from 2 to 4). First, the author considers here the flow around a semi-infinite flat plate. This is the simplest and best understood boundary layer flow, and the simplification is not just that the geometry is straightforward, but also that separation does not occur. Thus it is a flow for which higher-order boundary-layer theories can be easily developed. Then a finite plate is studied, and a difficulty arising at the trailing edge is resolved by the introduction of a triple-deck structure. Finally, the author describes briefly numerical methods for solving the resultant nonlinear triple-deck boundary-layer equations (finite volume and spectral approximations). Part II (``Separation'', chapters 6 and 7) examines a steady separated external flow, focusing on a particular example of flow about a circular cylinder. Here the author uses the Goldstein's and Sychev's models of separation, and compares theoretical predictions with numerical solutions of full Navier-Stokes equations. Part III (``Channel flows'', chapters from 8 to 10) deals with flows of engineering importance. Here the author emphasizes that there are significant differences between flows in symmetric and asymmetric channels, discusses the upstream influence, and gives a brief theory of bifurcations in symmetric channels with a sudden expansion (loss of symmetry in Coanda effect). An appendix with computer programs and problems for self-solution, bibliography and author and subject indexes conclude this well-written and well-organized book. Since this book is thought only as an introduction to the boundary-layer theory, the treatment has been deliberately restricted to steady two-dimensional incompressible laminary flows. However, due to a well-selected material, the book provides a good starting point for the reader interested in further study of advanced topics, and thus can be highly recommended to all newcomers in the boundary-layer theory, as well as to instructors teaching the viscous fluid mechanics.