Topics in Fluid Mechanics

The aim of this chapter is, after some mathematical preliminaries, to introduce the physical equations governing steady and unsteady motions of barotropic and polytropic fluids. The field of macroscopic thermodynamics provides us with a general framework for the description of irreversible continuum processes. Certain areas of macroscopic physics have connections with fluid dynamics, and the first part of the chapter is devoted to a systematic development of this theory, referencing [137]. More specifically, we will be treating state parameters as field variables, thus formulating the basic equations of continuous thermodynamics in the form of local equations. This will allow us to formulate correct and well-posed problems. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.