This is a comprehensive and self-contained introduction to the mathematical problems of thermal convection. The book delineates the main ideas leading to the authors' variant of the energy method. These can be also applied to other variants of the energy method. The importance of the book lies in its focussing on the best concrete results known in the domain of fluid flows stability and in the systematic treatment of mathematical instruments used in order to reach them.

1. Mathematical models governing fluid flows stability. 1.1. General mathematical models of thermodynamics. 1.2. Classical mathematical models in thermodynamics of fluids. 1.3. Classical mathematical models in thermodynamics. 1.4. Classical perturbation models. 1.5. Generalized incompressible Navier-Stokes model -- 2. Incompressible Navier-Stokes fluid. 2.1. Back to integral setting; involvement of dynamics and bifurcation. 2.2. Stability in semidynamical systems. 2.3. Perturbations; asymptotic stability; linear stability. 2.4. Linear stability. 2.5. Prodi's linearization principle. 2.6. Estimates for the spectrum of Ã. 2.7. Universal stability criteria -- 3. Elements of calculus of variations. 3.1. Generalities. 3.2. Direct and inverse problems of calculus of variations. 3.3. Symmetrization of some matricial ordinary differential operators. 3.4. Variational principles for problems (3.3.1)-(3.3.7). 3.5. Fourier series solutions for variational problems -- 4. Variants of the energy method for non-stationary equations. 4.1. Variant based on differentiation of parameters. 4.2. Variant based on simplest symmetric part of operators. 4.3. Variants based on energy splitting -- 5. Applications to linear Bénard convections. 5.1. Magnetic Bénard convection in a partially ionized fluid. 5.2. Magnetic Bénard convection for a fully ionized fluid. 5.3. Convection in a micro-polar fluid bounded by rigid walls. 5.4. Convections governed by ode's with variable coefficients -- 6. Variational methods applied to linear stability. 6.1. Magnetic Bénard problem with Hall effect. 6.2. Lyapunov method applied to the anisotropic Bénard problem. 6.3. Stability criteria for a quasi-geostrophic forced zonal flow. 6.4. Variational principle for problem (5.3.1), (5.3.2). 6.5. Taylor-Dean problem -- 7. Applications of the direct method to linear stability. 7.1. Couette flow between two cylinders subject to a magnetic field. 7.2. Soret-Dufour driven convection. 7.3. Magnetic Soret-Dufour driven convection. 7.4. Convection in a porous medium. 7.5. Convection in the presence of a dielectrophoretic force. 7.6. Convection in an anisotropic M.H.D. thermodiffusive mixture. 7.7. Inhibition of the thermal convection by a magnetic field. 7.8. Microconvection in a binary layer subject to a strong Soret effect. 7.9. Convection in the layer between the sea bed and the permafrost.

This is a comprehensive and self-contained introduction to the mathematical problems of thermal convection. The book delineates the main ideas leading to the authors' variant of the energy method. These can be also applied to other variants of the energy method. The importance of the book lies in its focussing on the best concrete results known in the domain of fluid flows stability and in the systematic treatment of mathematical instruments used in order to reach them.

A quantitative introduction to atmospheric science for students and professionals who want to understand and apply basic meteorological concepts but who are not ready for calculus.

A detailed look at some of the more modern issues of hydrodynamic stability, including transient growth, eigenvalue spectra, secondary instability. It presents analytical results and numerical simulations, linear and selected nonlinear stability methods. By including classical results as well as recent developments in the field of hydrodynamic stability and transition, the book can be used as a textbook for an introductory, graduate-level course in stability theory or for a special-topics fluids course. It is equally of value as a reference for researchers in the field of hydrodynamic stability theory or with an interest in recent developments in fluid dynamics. Stability theory has seen a rapid development over the past decade, this book includes such new developments as direct numerical simulations of transition to turbulence and linear analysis based on the initial-value problem.

Offers modern and numerical techniques for the stability of fluid flow with illustrations, an extensive bibliography, and exercises with solutions.

Instability of flows and their transition to turbulence are widespread phenomena in engineering and the natural environment, and are important in applied mathematics, astrophysics, biology, geophysics, meteorology, oceanography and physics as well as engineering. This is a textbook to introduce these phenomena at a level suitable for a graduate course, by modelling them mathematically, and describing numerical simulations and laboratory experiments. The visualization of instabilities is emphasized, with many figures, and in references to more still and moving pictures. The relation of chaos to transition is discussed at length. Many worked examples and exercises for students illustrate the ideas of the text. Readers are assumed to be fluent in linear algebra, advanced calculus, elementary theory of ordinary differential equations, complex variables and the elements of fluid mechanics. The book is aimed at graduate students but will also be very useful for specialists in other fields.