Scaling

by Grigory Isaakovich Barenblatt

Overview

Starting from dimensional analysis and physical similarity, G. Barenblatt describes the art of discovering scaling laws. He demonstrates the concepts of intermediate asymptotics and the renormalization group as natural consequences of self-similarity and shows how and when these tools can tackle the task at hand, and when they cannot. Based on courses taught to undergraduate and graduate students, the book can also be used independently by biologists, chemists, astronomers, engineers and geoscientists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521826570
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/13/2003
Series:	Cambridge Texts in Applied Mathematics , #34
Pages:	188
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.59(d)

About the Author

G. I. Barenblatt is Emeritus G. I. Taylor Professor of Fluid Mechanics at the University of Cambridge, Emeritus Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and Principal Scientist in the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow.

Table of Contents

Foreword; Introduction; 1. Dimensional analysis and physical similarity; 2. Self-similarity and intermediate asymptotics; 3. Scaling laws and self-similar solutions which cannot be obtained by dimensional analysis; 4. Complete and incomplete similarity; 5. Scaling and transformation groups and the renormalisation group; 6. Self-similar solutions and traveling waves; 7. Scaling laws and fractals; 8. Scaling laws for turbulent wall-bounded shear flows at very large Reynolds numbers; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"This book describes and teaches the art of discovering scaling laws, starting from dimensional analysis and physical similarity, which are given a modern treatment here." Mechanical Engineering

"The book is accessible to a general mathematically literate audience: the complex physical phenomena are presented clearly and economically. Readers will be rewarded with a wealth of examples, with guiding general principles and with profound insights." American Mathematical Society Reviews

From the Publisher