Civil Engineering Association

This book is written for the average student who wants to learn the fundamentals of gas dynamics. It aims at the undergraduate level and thus requires a minimum of prerequisites. The writing style is informal and incorporates ideas in educational technology such as behavioral objectives, meaningful summaries, and check tests. Such features make this book well suited for self-study as well as for conventional course presentation. Sufficient material is included for a typical one-quarter or onesemester course, depending on the student’s background.

Our approach in this book is to develop all basic relations on a rigorous basis with equations that are valid for the most general case of the unsteady, three-dimensional flow of an arbitrary fluid. These relations are then simplified to represent meaningful engineering problems for one- and two-dimensional steady flows. All basic internal and external flows are covered with practical applications which are interwoven throughout the text. Attention is focused on the assumptions made at every step of the analysis; emphasis is placed on the usefulness of the T –s diagram and the significance of any relevant loss terms.

Examples and problems are provided in both the English Engineering and SI systems of units. Homework problems range from the routine to the complex, with all charts and tables necessary for their solution included in the Appendixes. The goals for the user should be not only to master the fundamental concepts but also to develop good problem-solving skills. After completing this book the student should be capable of pursuing the many references that are available on more advanced topics.

Professor Oscar Biblarz joins Robert D. Zucker as coauthor in this edition. We have both taught gas dynamics from this book for many years. We both shared in the preparation of the new manuscript and in the proofreading. This edition has been expanded to include (1) material on conical shocks, (2) several sections showing how computer calculations can be helpful, and (3) an entire chapter on real gases, including simple methods to handle these problems. These topics have made the book more complete while retaining its original purpose and style.