A First Course in Hydraulics

This course of lectures is an introduction to hydraulics, the traditional name for fluid mechanics in civil and environmental engineering where sensible and convenient approximations to apparentlycomplex situations are made. An attempt is made to obtain physical understanding and insight into the subject by emphasising that we are following a modelling process, where simplicity, insight, and adequacy go hand-in-hand. We hope to include all important physical considerations, and to exclude those that are not important, but with understanding of what is being done. It is hoped that this will provide a basis for further sophistication if necessary in practice – if a problem contains unexpected phenomena, then as much advanced knowledge should be used as is necessary, but this should be brought in with a spirit of scepticism.