When it comes to fluids (and gases) the keyword you are looking for the the Navier-Stokes equation. In most cases gases and fluids can be handled essentially the same way. There is pretty a good video introduction to Navier-Stokes here: [link] (part 1) and ▶ this video (part 2) The big 'problem' with fluid dynamics is that from the equations it looks like a really simple problem. The Navier-Stokes equation is a couple of lines and you can explain it to a reasonably smart high school student who has taken calculus. And in the 'easy' case where you assume laminar flow and no turbulence it is pretty easy. The problem is when you introduce turbulence into the system then it becomes basically unsolvable and you are forced to rely on 'tricks' and approximations to make the problem computable. Most of the 'art' of CFD is picking the right tricks and approximations to solve the particular problem you have (the second 'art' is creating and a good mesh to run the solver on).
in “Tesla valve” · View on HN