Hydrodynamics





Time/place: Lecture (eKVV, Moodle):  Tue 08:30-10:00 (D6-135), Wed 08:30-10:00 (D6-135)
Tutorials (eKVV, Moodle):  Wed 14:00-16:00 (D6-135)

Instructor: Nicolas Borghini (borghini at physik dot uni-bielefeld dot de) E6-123
Tutor:  Renata Krupczak
 
Oral exam, registration at the end of the semester

Homepage:   http://www.physik.uni-bielefeld.de/~borghini/Teaching/Hydrodynamics
 
News:
 
Prerequisites: Classical mechanics, Special Relativity, Thermodynamics
 
Literature: * Faber: Fluid dynamics for physicists  (online access)
* Fließbach: Lehrbuch zur theoretischen Physik: Band I: Mechanik  (online access)
* Greiner: Hydrodynamik
* Guyon, Hulin, Petit, Mitescu: Physical hydrodynamics  (online access)
* Landau & Lifshitz: Course of theoretical physics: Vol. 6: Hydrodynamics
* Rezzolla & Zanotti: Relativistic hydrodynamics  (online access,  list of corrections)
* Rieutord: Fluid dynamics  (online access)
 
Content: all pages in a single file  [version of May 28, 2026]
Basic concepts of continuum mechanics   
  April 14  Continuum hypothesis; local thermodynamic equilibrium
  April 15  Lagrangian and Eulerian descriptions
  April 21  Mechanical stress
Kinematics of deformable bodies
  April 21  Generic motion of a fluid
  April 22  Rotation rate tensor, deformation tensor
  April 28  Classification of fluid flows
Fundamental equations of non-relativistic fluid dynamics
  April 28  Reynolds transport theorem
  April 29  Mass conservation, Euler equation
  May 5  Alternative forms of the Euler equation; energy conservation in perfect fluids
Simple inviscid non-relativistic flows
  May 5  Hydrostatics: Archimedes' principle
  May 6  Hydrostatics (continued); steady flows: Bernoulli equation
  May 12  Applications of the Bernoulli equation
  May 12 & 13  Vortex dynamics; potential flows
Fundamental equations of non-relativistic fluid dynamics (2)
  May 19  Dynamics of non-relativistic Newtonian fluids: Navier-Stokes equation
  May 20 & 26  Energy conservation and entropy balance in Newtonian fluids
Simple non-relativistic flows of Newtonian fluids
  May 20  Hydrostatics; simple steady flows (1)
  May 27  Simple steady flows (2)
                → further reading: Viscous electron fluids
  June 2  Dynamic similarity; Dimensional analysis (slides)
  June 3  Flows at low Reynolds number
Waves in non-relativistic fluids
  June 9  Sound waves in perfect fluids
  June 10  Shock waves
  June 16  Sound waves in Newtonian fluids
Turbulence in non-relativistic fluids
  June 17  Phenomenology; Reynolds decomposition
  June 23  Statistical description
Dynamics of relativistic fluids
  June 24  Fundamental equations of relativistic fluid dynamics
  June 30  Four-velocity. Equations of motion for perfect relativistic fluids
  July 1st  Perfect relativistic fluids: non-relativistic limit; interlude: curvilinear coordinates
  July 7  Examples of perfect relativistic flows
  July 8  Dissipative relativistic fluids: dissipative currents; Eckart & Landau frames

still to come:
- Dissipative non-relativistic flows: convective flows
- (time permitting) Hydrodynamic fluctuations / Numerical hydrodynamics
 
Links: * Illustrative videos by the (US) National Committee for Fluid Mechanics Films; you can also check the accompanying film notes
* Further fluid mechanics movies are available here
* Online version of the NIST Handbook of mathematical functions