The mathematical theory of turbulence (Q802405)

Part I of the book (about 25\% of it) under the heading of ''classical turbulence'', treats the basic equations, Reynold's equations, mixing length concepts and some of the results for pipe flow and boundary layer flow. Part II, under the heading ''statistical theories'', presents basic statistical concepts, the similarity theories of Kolmogoroff and Heisenberg, Kraichnan's ''direct interaction'' theory and Hopf's theory. The remaining third of part II is devoted to ''hydrodynamic turbulence''. The publishers aptly characterize the book as a systematic presentation of traditional knowledge of turbulence. The book is the result of an undergraduate course in which the author devoted much effort to a systematic presentation. This goal has been achieved using a somewhat selective view of the bulk of existing theory. Thus, not counting the seventh edition of Schlichting's book and a recent paper of the author, non of the references is dated later than 1973, about a quarter from before 1950. Under the heading of recent developments (last two decades) the names of Kraichnan, Karastnay, Batchelor, Chandrasekhar, Thomas and Coy are considered worth mentioning, the last two being co-workers of the author. Higher order closure methods are mentioned in passing only. For a complete review the reader is referred to a paper by Kraichnan of 1902. There is a short introductory paragraph on the Landau view of the path to turbulence, which is potentially confusing to the uninitiated. No mention is made of alternative ideas that have been proposed since Lorenz published his equations and results obtained from them. Other readers may find the above remarks too critical and may think the book to be a clear cut presentation of basic ideas of turbulence theory. It is a difficult task to write a good book on turbulence theory, a fact that is illustrated by the circumstance that, as far as one can see, the present book is the only successor to Rotta's classical volume.