L. C. Woods – författare

The aim of this book is to give a physical treatment of the kinetic theory of gases and magnetoplasmas, covering the standard material in as simple a way as possible, using mean-free-path arguments when possible and identifying problem areas where received theory has either failed or has fallen short of expectations. Examples are provided by strong shock waves, ultrasonic waves (high Knudsen numbers), and transport across strong magnetic fields.Examples of problem areas provided by strong shock waves, ultrasonic waves (high Knudsen numbers), and transport across strong magnetic fields. One of the paradoxes arising in kinetic theory concerns the fluid pressure. Collisions are necessary for a fluid force to result, yet standard kinetic theory does not entail this, being satisfied to bypass Newton's equations by defining pressure as a momentum flux. This omission usually has no adverse consequences, but with increasing Knudsen number, it leads to errors. This text pays particular attention to pressure, explaining the importance of allowing for its collisional nature from the outset in developing kinetic theory.

This 1961 book presents a concise and systematic treatment of two-dimensional subsonic, inviscid fluid motion and its aeronautical applications. Part I surveys the relevant fluid dynamics, assuming only a basic knowledge of the topic. In Part II, the methods of conformal mapping and Cauchy integrals are developed, on the assumption that the reader has only an elementary understanding of complex variable theory; this will be of interest to a wide range of applied mathematicians and engineers. In Part III, the methods are applied to several problems in fluid mechanics and aero dynamics. The text provides an extensive account of mixed boundary-value problems and treats such examples of these problems as occur in ventilated wind-tunnel theory, jet-flap theory and unsteady Hemholtz motions.