S K Gupta
Fluid mechanics is an important subject in conventional and non-conventional engineering fields. Listing of engineering disciplines having applications of fluid mechanics may be a daunting task yet the immediate ones that come to mind are: civil, mechanical, electrical, agriculture, dairy, structural, industrial, navel architecture, space and biomedical engineering. While conventional engineers may be interested in its applications to solve industrial problems, space engineers may be interested in designing space shuttles having low resistance, high speeds and high 'lift' force. The focus of this book is elements of fluid mechanics having relevance to undergraduate students of agricultural, dairy and civil engineering. The content of this book are as per the Dean’s Committee recommendations for Agriculture and Dairy engineering. Additional chapters have been included to cover the course content taught to civil engineering students of the affiliating universities. The book is divided into three sections with well-defined thirteen chapters. These include: Introduction to fluid mechanics, Pressure and pressure measurement, Archimedes law and stability of floating bodies, Fluid kinematics and visualization, Fluid dynamics: mass and energy conservation, Flow measurement: weirs notches and orifices, Open channel flow, Pipe flow, Hydraulic losses in pipes, Dimensional analysis and similitude, Introduction to fluid machinery, Reciprocating pumps and Hydrodynamic pumps. The book is in simple and easy to understand english. The book is highly illustrated. Both theory and objective type questions have been included for the benefit of the students. The author believes that the book should prove to be a valuable textbook to students and staff of engineering colleges across disciplines. It can prove to be a valuable academic asset for libraries of colleges and universities world wide.
