Environmental Fluid Mechanics: Benoit Cushman-Roisin
Environmental Fluid Mechanics: Benoit Cushman-Roisin
FLUID MECHANICS
BENOIT CUSHMAN-ROISIN
Thayer School of Engineering
Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire 03755
March 2014
I. Title
CONTENTS
PREFACE
ix
PART I: GENERALITIES
Chapter 1: Introduction
15
Control Volume / 15
Conservation of Mass / 20
Conservation of Momentum / 22
Bernoulli Equation / 28
Equation of State / 33
iii
iv
CONTENTS
2.6 Conservation of Energy / 34
Problems / 36
39
69
Chapter 4: Waves
71
Chapter 5: Instabilities
103
Chapter 6: Mixing
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
127
CONTENTS
Problems / 136
Chapter 7: Convection
121
Chapter 8: Turbulence
129
141
147
vi
CONTENTS
155
163
165
187
205
CONTENTS
vii
115
157
187
viii
CONTENTS
References
400
Index
420
PREFACE
When environmental pollution is mentioned, the rst thought coming to mind is
that of a chemical or biological matter negatively aecting some person or some
ecosystem. Yet, those materials would not be where they are if they had not been
transported somehow through the environment from their source. This simple fact
and the fact that a large degree of dilution and transformation takes place along
the transporting path makes one quickly realize that the environmental impact of
any type of contamination depends as much on the nature of the contaminant as
on the physics of its transport, hence the expression Environmental Transport and
Fate. Thus, environmental pollution has both physical and biochemical aspects.
Transport of contamination in the environment can take many forms, from downstream ow of water and air, to migration through soils, deposition in lungs and
transfer through the food chain. Of all possible pathways, transport by water and
air is by far the most common and therefore deserves special attention. The investigation of the processes by which contaminants are transported and diluted in water
and air, such as convection and turbulent dispersion, and the study of water and air
systems from the perspective of environmental health, such as a watershed or the
atmospheric boundary layer, collectively form a body of knowledge, the synthesis of
which is recognized today as the discipline called Environmental Fluid Mechanics.
This synthesis is the object of the present book.
Environmental Fluid Mechanics (EFM) borrows most of its materials from classical uid mechanics, meteorology, hydrology, hydraulics, limnology and oceanography, but integrates them in a unique way, namely with a view toward environmental
understanding, predictions and even decision making. EFM should therefore not
be confused with basic uid mechanics, hydraulics or geophysical uid dynamics.
Unlike general uid mechanics, EFM is strictly concerned with the ows of air and
water as they naturally occur, that is, at ambient temperatures and pressures, in
a state of turbulence, and at relatively large scales (a few meters to the size of the
earth). Ironically also, while uid mechanics tends to view turbulence as a negative aspect (increasing drag forces), EFM views turbulence as benecial (conducive
to dilution). Further, EFM is distinguished from hydraulics not only because it
treats air as well as water, but chiey because it is aimed at environmental applications. Thus, whereas hydraulics tends to be preoccupied by water levels (oods) and
ix
CONTENTS
pressures against physical structures (dams and bridges), EFM is concerned with
thermal stratication, turbulent dispersion and sedimentation. Finally, geophysical uid dynamics restricts its attention to the very largest natural uid ows of
the atmosphere and oceans such as weather patterns and oceanic currents, thereby
emphasizing the role of Earths rotation (Coriolis eect) while often ignoring turbulence; in contrast, EFM assigns a central role to turbulence and deals with length
scales down to the human size.
Complexity is a hallmark of natural uid ows: Turbulent uctuations, complicated geometries, multiple external forces, and thermal stratication all combine to
make the subject rather challenging. No single approach can suce, and a mix of
in-situ observations, theoretical investigations, numerical simulations, and laboratory experiments is most necessary. Such mix is naturally reected in the contents
of the book. Furthermore, a system outlook is essential to the pursuit of environmental uid mechanics. Yet, the study of a system (ex. an urban airshed) must
proceed from the prior study of underlying processes (ex. convection and boundary
layers), which itself relies on the elucidation of fundamental concepts (ex. buoyancy
and vorticity). The organization of the book follows a deductive progression, from
generalities and concepts, to processes, and nally to entire systems.
The book is aimed at upper-level undergraduate students in environmental science and engineering. The text therefore assumes some familiarity with calculus
and basic physics as well as some prior exposure to uid mechanics. Those students
who have taken a prior course in uid mechanics can omit Chapters 2 and 3. To
assist professors, a series of problems is oered at the end of every chapter. It is
expected that the book will also be useful to environmental scientists and engineers,
who may want to consult it as a reference. Finally, it is the expressed hope of the
author that this book will facilitate the development and oering of a course in
environmental engineering as part of a curriculum in environmental transport and
fate.
This book would not have been possible without the contributions and assistance
of many people. I am foremost indebted to my students at Dartmouth College,
who persuasively led me to consider environmental uid mechanics as an integral
discipline. Numerous colleagues, too many to permit an exhaustive list here, have
made detailed and invaluable suggestions that have improved both the contents
and presentation of this textbook. Special thanks go to Edwin A. Cowen, Carlo
Gualtieri, Heidi Nepf and Thomas Shay, among many others.
Benoit Cushman-Roisin
Hanover, New Hampshire
March 2014