• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Logo for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan
  • Strategic Directions
  • News and Events
  • Contact

  • About
    • History
    • Strategic Directions
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
      • CEE DEI Committee
      • DEI Resources
      • Have a concern?
    • Alumni
      • CEE Friends Association
        • CEEFA Board
      • Award Winners
    • Giving
      • Giving Legacy
    • Leadership and Governance
    • Faculty Search
      • Faculty Position in Environmental Engineering
      • Faculty Position in Intelligent Systems
    • Contact
      • Student Services Contacts
      • Master’s Advising Contacts
      • Undergraduate Advising Contacts
  • Undergraduate Studies
    • BSE Degree in Civil Engineering
    • BSE Degree in Environmental Engineering
    • Minor in Civil Engineering
    • Minor in Environmental Engineering
    • FocusCEE
      • Community Policy and Planning
      • Smart Cities
      • Sustainability
    • Undergraduate Opportunities
      • Undergraduate Externship
      • Student Research and Employment
        • CEE SURE/SROP Projects 2023
    • Schedule an Advising Appointment
    • Declare Your Major
    • Careers in CEE
      • What is a Civil or Environmental Engineer?
      • Career Pathways
      • Employers of CEE Graduates
      • How to Recruit CEE Graduates
    • Undergraduate Student Advisory Council
    • Student Life
  • Graduate Studies
    • Master’s Programs
    • PhD Programs
      • PhD Mentoring Framework
      • PhD Candidate Roster
    • Pelham Scholars Program
    • Online Learning
      • Construction Engineering and Management MasterTrack™
    • Admissions Information
      • International Applicants
      • Sequential Undergraduate/Graduate Studies (SUGS) Applicants
    • Graduate Handbook
    • Graduate Student Advisory Council
    • Student Life
  • People
    • Faculty
      • Affiliated Faculty
      • Core Faculty
      • Emeritus Faculty
    • Postdocs
    • Researchers
    • Staff
      • Administrative
      • Finance
      • Human Resources
      • IT & Web
      • Laboratory Technicians
      • Purchasing
      • Student Services
  • Research
    • New Grants
    • Civil Infrastructure Systems
      • Construction Engineering and Management
      • Geotechnical Engineering
      • Intelligent Systems
      • Next Generation Transportation Systems
      • Structural and Materials Engineering
    • Environment and Water Resources
      • Ecohydrology and Hydraulic Engineering
      • Energy and Clean Technology
      • Environmental Chemistry and Soil Physics
      • Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology
    • Smart Infrastructure Finance
    • Urban Collaboratory
    • Facilities
      • Advanced Materials Research
      • Cementitious Composites
      • Center of Excellence in Bridges and Structures
      • Computational Community Resilience
      • Computational Structural Simulation
      • Construction Engineering Lab
      • Geotechnical Engineering Labs
      • Intelligent Structural Technology
      • Next Generation Infrastructure
      • Next Generation Transportation Systems Research Facilities
      • Pavement Research Center of Excellence
      • Structural Engineering Lab
  • Resources
    • Shipping
    • Purchasing
      • Purchasing Frequently Asked Questions
    • Reimbursement
    • IT Resources
    • Lab Safety
      • Lab Safety Basics
      • Minimum Training Requirements
    • Lab Requests and Procedures
    • Room Requests
    • Faculty Intranet
    • Strategic Directions
    • News and Events
    • Contact

CEE professor authors comprehensive overview of fluid dynamics

The three-volume Free-Surface Flow presents a detailed look at the fluid dynamics of surface water flow.

Written by: Jessica Petras

July 1, 2019

Portrait of Nikolaos Katopodes Nikolaos D. Katopodes
Emeritus Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

EXPERTS:

The field of fluid mechanics has an important new addition to the literature with the publication of three books by Professor Nikolaos D. Katopodes.

The publication of these books represents the culmination of a project that Katopodes began twenty years ago. He continually revised and improved the text as he taught Flow in Open Channels (CEE 521), Stream, Lake and Estuary Analysis (CEE 590), Environmental Fluid Mechanics (CEE 591), and Free-Surface Flow (CEE621). Katopodes’ former students may recognize many of the concepts in the books from his lectures over the years.

Portrait of Nikolaos D. Katopodes
Nikolaos D. Katopodes

The Free-Surface flow series provides a path for readers to learn the rules of fluid dynamics well enough in order to bend them, and even break them. This delicate process requires respect for existing knowledge without dependence on or unquestionable acceptance of past authorities. Some of the concepts are centuries old. Some of the applications remain the same. But others have changed or altogether disappeared while new challenges have emerged.

The goal of this book series is to ask provocative questions while presenting the fundamentals of the accepted theory of free-surface flow. The book does not necessarily provide new methods of solution, but rather gives the readers enough confidence to seek their own. By exposing the tentativeness of the present state-of-the-art, the book hopes to promote liberation from established methodology and conservatism.

“The books are a teaching aid based on the hypothesis that knowledge of causes, rigorousness of presentation, and fellowship of learning provide the means to understanding the laws governing surface water dynamics,” said Katopodes.

Three of Katopode's books
The three books in the Free-Surface Flow series

The first volume, Free-surface flow: Environmental fluid mechanics, introduces a range of environmental flow problems that cover a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Basic concepts are introduced with a focus on environmental and geophysical problems and solutions.

The second volume, Free-surface flow: Shallow water dynamics, presents a novel approach to the analysis of flow in rivers, lakes and estuaries. It bridges the gap between traditional books on open-channel flow and wave mechanics.

The third volume, Free-surface flow: Computational methods, presents a modern approach to the simulation of free-surface flows, bridging the gap between numerical analysis and applications. The main goal of this book is to provide numerical solutions of the turbulent Navier-Stokes equations in three space dimensions, including the explicit determination of the interface between air and water.

The three volumes of Free-Surface Flow are intended to build upon each other as a comprehensive set, but each volume can also stand on its own.


MEDIA CONTACT

Portrait of Michele Santillan

Michele Santillan

Marketing Communications Specialist
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

(734) 748-1283

mssantil@umich.edu

Explore: Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty

Footer

Logo for Michigan Engineering at the University of Michigan

  • Giving
  • News and Events
  • Contact
  • Sign up for our newsletter
  • U-M Engineering Home
  • Strategic Vision
  • Graduate and Professional
  • Undergraduate
  • U-M Engineering Research News
  • U-M Home

  • Giving
  • News and Events
  • Contact
  • Sign up for our newsletter

© 2023 The Regents of the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA Privacy Policy | Non-Discrimination Policy | Campus Safety

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube