Applied partial differential equations : a visual approach /

This book presents topics of science and engineering which occur in nature or are part of daily life. It describes phenomena which are modelled by partial differential equations, relating to physical variables like mass, velocity and energy, etc. to their spatial and temporal variations. The author has chosen topics representing his career-long interests, including the flow of fluids and gases, granular flows, biological processes like pattern formation on animal skins, kinetics of rarified gases and semiconductor devices. Each topic is presented in its scientific or engineering context, followed by an introduction of applicable mathematical models in the form of partial differential equations.