AMS107 -- PHYS107 -- AMS217

Instructor: Prof. Nic Brummell

 

 

This course focuses on the fundamentals of fluid dynamics as applied to astrophysical and geophysical systems. We will deal with: a kinematic understanding of fluid flows (how do we describe flows?, the continuum hypothesis, Eulerian and Lagrangian descriptions, etc); a dynamic understanding of fluid flows i.e. the various equation sets describing inviscid and viscous flow derived from conservation laws; dynamic similarity and scale analysis; inviscid potential flows; gravity waves; exact solutions of Navier-Stokes equations; boundary layer formulations; and a selection of more advanced topics such as numerical simulations, compressible flows and some introductory discussions of fluid instabilities, waves, chaos, nonlinear equilibration, and turbulence.

The course is aimed at providing the student with a basic understanding of fluid dynamics, both intuitively and from an applied mathematics point of view.

By the end of the course, you will know how to fly and how to throw a good curve ball in baseball!

The regular lecture material will be augmented with video presentations and experimental demonstrations.

People:

Instructor -- Nic Brummell:

Office: Be357A

Phone: 9-2122

Email: brummell at soe.ucsc.edu

Office hours: wed 5:15pm

Teaching Assistant -- Steven Reeves:

Office: BE356

Email: sireeves at ucsc.edu

Office hours: Tues/Wed 1-2pm in BE312C/D

Lectures:

Nat Sci Annex 103, Tues/Thurs, 9:50-11:25am

Primary Text:

Kundu, Cohen and Dowling (= K), Fluid Mechanics (6th ed., Academic Press)

Latest announcements

  • CONGRATULATIONS!  IT'S ALL OVER!   The exam is DONE, marked and the grades are now in.  See Canvas or your grades through the registrar.  People did pretty well in general, and I'm happy with what you seemed to learn.  I was excited to see some little things stuck with some people (e.g. the martini example!).  I hope you are happy with what you learned too.
  • Class is finished! 
    • Congratulations on making it through a tough semester of learning fluids and math!  It was fun teaching you all.  You were a big but great and interactive class, so thanks for that!
    • Exam on Wednesday at 8am in the usual room!    Bring some paper to work on, a pen or pencil and your brain, that's all you need
  • 12/01:  Note that the final exam is Wednesday, 13th Dec at 8am (ouch!) - 11am in the usual room
    • The exam will be a combination of short "understanding" questions, like the midterm, and longer "application" problems, like the homework problems.
    • People that can't make the regular exam time, the alternative time is Fri 8th Dec 2pm-5pm
  • 11/30:  I've been lax updating here!  HW7 has been set and done, and HW8 is out there for you!
  • 11/15:  Note that there is a "Resources" sub-page in the menu to the left.  Here, you'll find lots of goodies, e.g. a link to John Hart's fluids demos that include the one related to the Taylor-Proudman theorem and the vortex and air hocket demos etc
  • 11/06:  I  did set a HW6, yahhooooo!   See the HW page.
  • 11/01:  MIDTERM!!!!   A self-assessment pseudo-midterm is set!   See the HW page for the midterm and instructions
  • 10/26:  HW5 set!
  • 10/19:  HW4 set!
  • 10/18:  We finally got all the pics together from HW1 (thanks, Steven!) 
  • 10/16:  Answers are up for HW2 too ont he HW page
  • 10/16: 
    • The Hero's Fountain competition was AWESOME!  After much considertion by a panel of esteemed experienced experts (thanks, Steven and Sarah!!), taking into account all kinds of science and design considerations, a shocking DEAD HEAT in quality resulted between the three teams -- Team1: The "Nic is Awesome" Team;  Team 2:  "The Math does Science Team" and Team 3: The "Haolie" Team.  Here are videos of the awesomeness respectively:
    • Team 1
    • Team 2
    • Team 3
  • 10/11: TOMORROW (THURS 10/12) -- FOUNTAINS AT 9:50AM!!!!
  • 10/11: Video tonight!  5:15pm BE 358  Eulerian/Lagrangian stuff
  • 10/04: HW2 is set!  Guided questions to explain the fountain in the homework section ...
  • 10/03: FIRST VIDEO SESSION TOMORROW (WED 4TH OCT 5:15PM BE358)!!!!!
  • 10/02: Introductory lecture updated and uploaded to website here (and below, in lecture set)
  • 09/28: HW1 is set!
  • 09/16: Get ready ... ! First class Thurs Sept 28th ...

Lecture Notes

Extra video sessions and office hours:

POTENTIALLY Wednesday at 5:15pm in BE358

The URL for the set of videos if you are not coming to the session is here, or get them directly on YouTube here