Continuum Physics

This book aims to coherently present applications of group analysis to integro-differential equations in an accessible way. The book will be useful to both physicists and mathematicians interested in general methods to investigate nonlinear problems using symmetries.

This is a masterly exposition and an encyclopedic presentation of the theory of hyperbolic conservation laws. It illustrates the essential role of continuum thermodynamics in providing motivation and direction for the development of the mathematical theory while also serving as the principal source of applications. The reader is expected to have a certain mathematical sophistication and to be familiar with (at least) the rudiments of analysis and the qualitative theory of partial differential equations, whereas prior exposure to continuum physics is not required.

From the reviews of the first edition: "This book is directed to graduate students and research workers interested in the numerical solution of problems of fluid dynamics, primarily those arising in high speed flow. …The book is well arranged, logically presented and well illustrated. It contains several FORTRAN programms with which students could experiment … It is a practical book, with emphasis on methods and their implementation. It is an excellent text for the fruitful research area it covers, and is highly recommended". Journal of Fluid Mechanics #1 From the reviews of the second edition: "The arrangement of chapters in the book remains practically the same as that in the first editon (1977), except for the inclusion of Glimm's method … This book is higly recommended for both graduate students and researchers." Applied Mechanics Reviews #1

This book details a systematic characteristics-based finite element procedure to investigate incompressible, free-surface and compressible flows. The fluid dynamics equations are derived from basic thermo-mechanical principles and the multi-dimensional and infinite-directional upstream procedure is developed by combining a finite element discretization of a characteristics-bias system with an implicit Runge-Kutta time integration. For the computational solution of the Euler and Navier Stokes equations, the procedure relies on the mathematics and physics of multi-dimensional characteristics. As a result, the procedure crisply captures contact discontinuities, normal as well as oblique shocks, and generates essentially non-oscillatory solutions for incompressible, subsonic, transonic, supersonic, and hypersonic inviscid and viscous flows.

Addressing students and researchers as well as CFD practitioners, this book describes the state of the art in the development of high-resolution schemes based on the Flux-Corrected Transport (FCT) paradigm. Intended for readers who have a solid background in Computational Fluid Dynamics, the book begins with historical notes by J.P. Boris and D.L. Book.