Vorticity and Turbulence - 9780387941974

This book provides an introduction to turbulence in vortex systems, and to turbulence theory for incompressible flow described in terms of the vorticity field. It is the author's hope that by the end of the book the reader will believe that these subjects are identical, and constitute a special case of fairly standard statistical mechanics, with both equilibrium and non-equilibrium aspects. The author's main goal is to relate turbulence to statistical mechanics. The book is organized as follows: the first three chapters constitute a fairly standard introduction to homogeneous turbulence in incompressible flow; a quick review of fluid mechanics; a summary of the appropriate Fourier theory; a summary of Kolmogorov's theory of the inertial range. The next four chapters present the statistical theory of vortex notion, and the vortex dynamics of turbulence. The book ends with the major conclusion that turbulence can no longer be viewed as incomprehensible. This book will be appropriate for professionals in the fields of applied mathematics, mechanical engineering, or physics, as well as graduate students in these noted areas.