Vincent Chu – författare

In eighteen stories that shine a light on people who are far from champions, Like a Champion is an ode to underdogs and long shots, sad office parties and one-sided basketball games, disappointed worker bees and hopeful lovers.

A lonely businessman on a cruise finds comfort in an unlikely companion. Two high school friends try to survive their last backyard wrestling match only to learn that not all endings can be choreographed. An expat teacher struggles with her new life overseas until a familiar stranger joins the faculty. A young woman fails to make progress in a strip mall boxing gym before discovering strength in her breaking point.  

Vincent Chu’s work is funny and big-hearted, like the best short stories of Sherman Alexie, and imbued with a generosity and warmth that reminds us that moments of glory can happen when we least expect it.

Jets and plumes are shear flows produced by momentum and buoyancy forces. Examples include smokestack emissions, fires and volcano eruptions, deep sea vents, thermals, sewage discharges, thermal effluents from power stations, and ocean dumping of sludge. Knowledge of turbulent mixing by jets and plumes is important for environmental control, impact and risk assessment.

Turbulent Jets and Plumes introduces the fundamental concepts and develops a Lagrangian approach to model these shear flows. This theme persists throughout the text, starting from simple cases and building towards the practically important case of a turbulent buoyant jet in a density-stratified crossflow. Basic ideas are illustrated by ample use of flow visualization using the laser-induced fluorescence technique. The text includes many illustrative worked examples, comparisons of model predictions with laboratory and field data, and classroom tested problems. An interactive PC-based virtual-reality modelling software (VISJET) is also provided. Engineering and science students, researchers and practitioners may use the book both as an introduction to the subject and as a reference in hydraulics and environmental fluid mechanics.