Fluid dynamics

Fluid dynamics is the subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that studies fluids in motion. Fluids are specifically liquids and gases. The solution of a fluid dynamic problem typically involves calculating for various properties of the fluid, such as velocity, pressure, density, and temperature, as functions of space and time. The discipline has a number of subdisciplines, including aerodynamics (the study of gases) and hydrodynamics (the study of liquids). Fluid dynamics has a wide range of applications. For example, it is used in calculating forces and moments on aircraft, the mass flow rate of petroleum through pipelines, and in prediction of weather patterns, and even in traffic engineering, where traffic is treated as a continuous fluid. Fluid dynamics offers a mathematical structure that underlies these practical discipines which often also embrace empirical and semi-empirical laws, derived from flow measurement, to solve practical problems.

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Fields of study

• Acoustic theory (largely derives from fluid dynamics)
• Aerodynamics
• Aeroelasticity
• Aeronautics
• Computational fluid dynamics
• Flow measurement
• Hemodynamics
• Hydraulics
• Hydrostatics
• Hydrodynamics
• Electrohydrodynamics
• Magnetohydrodynamics
• Rheology

Mathematical equations and objects

• Bernoulli's equation
• Boussinesq approximation
• Euler equations
• Helmholtz's theorems
• Manning equation
• Navier-Stokes equations
• Poiseuille's law
• relativistic Euler equations
• Reynolds decomposition
• Stream function

Types of fluid flow

• Compressible flow
• Couette flow
• Incompressible flow
• Laminar flow
• Transient flow
• Turbulent flow
• Open channel flow
• Potential flow
• Supersonic
• Stokes flow
• Transonic
• Two phase flow

Fluid properties

• Boundary layer
• Coanda effect
• Conservation laws
• Drag (force)
• Lift (force)
• Newtonian fluid
• Non-Newtonian fluid
• Sound barrier
• Shock wave
• Streamline
• Surface tension
• Vapor pressure
• Venturi
• Vorticity
• Wave drag

Fluid numbers

• Froude number
• Knudsen number
• Mach number
• Prandtl number
• Richardson number
• Reynolds number
• Strouhal number

Fluid phenomena

The following observed fluid phenomena can be characterised and explained using fluid mechanics:

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• Boundary layer
• Coanda effect
• Convection cell
• Rossby wave
• Shock wave
• Soliton
• Turbulence
• Venturi effect
• Vortex
• Wave drag

Applications

• Acoustics
• Aerodynamics
• Fluid power
• Meteorology
• Oceanography
• Plasma physics
• Pneumatics

See also

• important publications in fluid dynamics
• Isosurface

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