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10401 Continuum Physics
Danish title: Kontinuumsfysik
Language: English Credit points: 5
Type: Open University
Language: English

Prerequisite: Basic courses in mathematics and physics
Recommended semester: 6th - 8th semester
Scope and form: Lectures
Examination: Evaluation of compulsory reports. (13-scale)
Contact person: Tomas Bohr, Building 309, Tel. +45 4525 3310, email Tomas.Bohr@fysik.dtu.dk, http://info.fysik.dtu.dk/~tbohr

URL: http://info.fys.dtu.dk/~tbohr/continuum.html
Department: Department of Physics
Aim: The aim of the course is to give the student a basic understanding of the classical physics of spatially extended media consisting of solid materials, liquids and gasses. The course can be regarded as a natural extension of classical mechanics (including thremodynamics/statistical mechanics) or be the basis for more specialized studies in elasticity, hydrodynamics and the physics of fluids, such as superfluids.
Contents: On the basis of classical mechanics and thermodynamics the equations describing the macroscopic motion of deformable solids and fluids. Introduction of fields, especially the gravitational fields and pressure. Hydrostatics. Strain and stress in elastic media. Sound waves. Ideal, incompressible fluid motion (The Euler equations). Viscosity and its microscopic origin. The Boltzmann equation. The Navier-Stokes equations. Potential flow. Boundary layers. Surface waves. Vortices. Instabilities in flows. Turbulence and Lagrangian chaos. Superfluid flow.