-
This text introduces readers to magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), the physics of ionised fluids. Traditionally MHD is taught as part of a graduate curriculum in plasma physics. By contrast, this text-one of a very few-teaches MHD exclusively from a fluid dynamics perspective, making it uniquely accessible to senior undergraduate students. Part I of the text uses the MHD Riemann problem as a focus to introduce the fundamentals of MHD: Alfvén's theorem; waves; shocks; rarefaction fans; etc. Part II builds upon this with presentations of broader areas of MHD: fluid instabilities; viscid hydrodynamics; steady-state MHD; and non-ideal MHD. Throughout the text, more than 125 problems and several projects (with solutions available to instructors) reinforce the main ideas. Optionally, large-font lesson plans for a 'flipped-style' class are also available to instructors. This book is suitable for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students, requiring no previous knowledge of fluid dynamics or plasma physics.
This text introduces readers to magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), the physics of ionised fluids. Traditionally MHD is taught as part of a graduate curriculum in plasma physics. By contrast, this text-one of a very few-teaches MHD exclusively from a fluid dynamics perspective, making it uniquely accessible to senior undergraduate students. Part I of the text uses the MHD Riemann problem as a focus to introduce the fundamentals of MHD: Alfvén's theorem; waves; shocks; rarefaction fans; etc. Part II builds upon this with presentations of broader areas of MHD: fluid instabilities; viscid hydrodynamics; steady-state MHD; and non-ideal MHD. Throughout the text, more than 125 problems and several projects (with solutions available to instructors) reinforce the main ideas. Optionally, large-font lesson plans for a 'flipped-style' class are also available to instructors. This book is suitable for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students, requiring no previous knowledge of fluid dynamics or plasma physics.