No label defined (Q4520897)

This is an interactive multimedia CD-ROM devoted to fluid mechanics. After the start, the user can select one of titles of the main menu: Kinematics; Dynamics; Boundary layers; History; Video library. The first three parts contain a menu-driven subclassification with elementary mathematical definitions of the main concepts, animations (mainly colour) of all important topics, and possibilities to perform virtual experiments and simulations where the user can observe how the flow changes when a papameter (e.g. angle of attack) is varied. In addition to subject menus and hyperlinked texts, the material can be also accesses by a search engine. In part ``History'', biographies, detailed contribution notes and references are given for 15 outstanding fluid mechanicists, from Leonardo da Vinci, D'Alembert and Euler to G. I. Taylor and Th. von Kármán. Finally, part ``Video library'' contains hundreds of video clips carefully classified and related to the above main topics. As a little shortcomings which could be corrected in the future editions, one can point out the full absence of any sound, and the impossibility of printing or copying the materials, especially the texts, directly. On balance, this CD-ROM, which fills the gap between theoretical fluid mechanics an real-word phenomena, can be characterized as a very useful addition to standard fluid mechanics courses for undergraduate students. The CD-ROM can also provide an interesting material for all teaching the fluid mechanics.