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I have already checked out Book Recommendations on the community wiki, but the recommendations there don't suit what I ask for. I need problems/problems+theory book(s) on high-school-physics-olympiad/introductory-undergrad-fluid-mechanics book, which has better theory and harder problems than Resnick Halliday Krane, University Physics and other books like this. I wanted a book solely on fluid mechanics covering fluid statics, hydrodynamics (Bernoulli's equation, and basics of eulerian equations), viscosity, surface tension, basics of boundary layer theory, stress and strain in solids. Hopefully there is a book which has problems of IPhO level. (easier than Cahn's problems in Physics but harder than RHK, and almost equal to the level of IE Irodov).

So please suggest me a book like this with preferably no prerequisites other than Classical Mechanics at Introductory University level.

Edit: Please note that this question is NOT a possible duplicate of this one because what I want is a book containing Fluid Statics along with Fluid Dynamics. Moreover, I want a problem book preferably (even a problem+theory book is fine, it should have a lot of problems similar to the level of Irodov and IPhO). The books in the this other link does not contain the books relevant to what I have said.

Problems on surface Tension, viscosity, fluid dynamics, fluid statics is what I desire.

Urb
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kushal
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2 Answers2

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Very good question. I totally support it and am for having more olympiads.

Here's the book that should work. Frank M. White, "Fluid Mechanics", McGrawHill. Any edition will work. I use the sixth one. It's a living classics: theory + problems. It's expensive. There is even a solution book, but I don't know how to get it.

Apart from that, a good book to prepare for an olympiad is Сборник задач по машиностроительной гидравлике под ред. Куколевского Ивана Ивановича. That is a classical problems book, but it exists only in Russian. Any edition will work. The book has being updated by the professors from the hydraulics department of Bauman Moscow state technical university BMSTU. The book contains problems only (with a tiny bit of theory).

Both books contain the topics you want. But be aware that Russian school of fluid mechanics (or at least BMSTU school of fluid mechanics) mistakenly calls Bernoulli's equation what, in fact, is a form of the conservation of energy equation.

Since you mentioned IPhO, I believe you might be from the aerodynamics department of MIPT. I went through the MIPT's fluid mechanics program some time ago, it seems compatible with the White's book I mentioned above. Also, since MIPT was founded by Kapitsa who was trained on the west, I suppose MIPT's students might've avoided the problem with Bernoulli's equation that I mentioned above.

Ivan Nepomnyashchikh
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You don't need anything close to a full textbook to handle Olympiad fluid mechanics. It's probably more realistic to ask for a handout or a single chapter of a book. With that in mind, I recommend:

  • Competitive Physics by Wang and Ricardo. This book is a great bridge between introductory physics textbooks and Olympiad physics. It has very clear explanations of theory, especially for surface tension (which many introductory books mistreat), though not a wide range of problem styles. For fluids, you'll want to see chapter 9 of volume 1, and part of chapter 2 of volume 2.
  • Jaan Kalda's handouts. These have nice, Eastern-European style problems and a very compact explanation of the theory. See the mechanics handout for fluid statics and Bernoulli's principle, and the thermodynamics handout for topics like surface tension and compressible flow.
  • My handouts have a medium amount of theory, and a wide range of problems of varying styles. Fluids are covered in Mech II, Mech VII, and Thermo III and include all of the above topics.
knzhou
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