Contact Info
Department of Applied Mathematics
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
Canada N2L 3G1
Phone: 519-888-4567, ext. 32700
Fax: 519-746-4319
PDF files require Adobe Acrobat Reader
The fourth year course AMATH 463 is one of the few undergraduate courses in Fluid Mechanics offered in a Mathematics program in Canada. Many students who have completed the course have commented that one component that they greatly appreciated is that it combined mathematical techniques from many preliminary courses. It requires a solid background in Vector Calculus (AMATH 231), Ordinary Differential Equations (AMATH 250), Partial Differential Equations (AMATH 353) and Introduction to Theoretical Mechanics (AMATH 271).
In the previous course on Continuum Mechanics (AMATH 361) the students have derived the famous Navier-Stokes equations that can be used to study many fluid dynamical phenomena. Proving existence and uniqueness theorems about these equations is one of the seven Clay prizes in mathematics that has a purse of one million U.S. dollars. AMATH 463 specializes the Navier-Stokes equations to many different scenarios in order to understand fluid dynamics. There is a strong emphasis on the physical phenomena as well as the mathematical techniques required.
The topics covered in AMATH 463 are as follows:
Fluid Dynamics is a vast subject that covers a broad range of length scales. Examples include flow around phytoplankton (~10-6 m), gravity waves due to surface tension (~10-2 m), flow in pipes (~10-2 m), people swimming in a lake (~1 m), internal gravity waves shoaling in lakes (~10 m), ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream (~103 m), atmospheric weather systems (~106 m), flow in stellar interiors (~108 m) and galactic dynamics (~1022 m).
This one course cannot cover all of these topics but it aims to give the student a firm background from which they can then study other fluid dynamical systems of interest to them. Two graduate courses that our department offers that require a strong knowledge of fluid dynamics are Nonlinear Waves AMATH 867 and Hydrodynamic Stability AMATH 863.
Contact Info
Department of Applied Mathematics
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
Canada N2L 3G1
Phone: 519-888-4567, ext. 32700
Fax: 519-746-4319
PDF files require Adobe Acrobat Reader
The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is centralized within our Office of Indigenous Relations.