This online engineering textbook was in its 4th edition when I last visited their site. It is written by the father and son team of John H. Lienhard IV, Professor, University of Houston and John H. Lienhard V, Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has been offered freely online since 2000.
Free Engineering Textbooks
Engineering is one of those academic disciplines where students must take a variety of courses to be prepared to work in their field. One site defines engineering as, “the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of people.”
I’ve been disappointed that it hasn’t been easier to find more free online engineering textbooks to share with you here. It would seem since technology plays such a major role in their day-to-day activities that they would be among the educators and scholars who would readily embrace the Open Textbook movement. Hopefully, I have just been looking in the wrong places and will find many more online texts to share with everyone here on The Free Textbook List.
List of Free Engineering Textbooks
A Heat Transfer Textbook
Written by: John H. Lienhard IV (University of Houston) and John H. Lienhard V (MIT)
Aerodynamics for Students
Written by: D.J. Auld & K. Srinivas
Undergraduate engineering students will find a wealth of information – data tables, computer programs and free online textbook – Aerodynamics for Students.
Applied Aerodynamics
Written by: Ilan Kroo (Stanford University)
A free applied aerodynamics textbook is designed to supplement more traditional course materials but does provide a great deal of information for students.
Basics of Fluid Mechanics
Written by: Genick Bar-Meir
A free online fluid mechanics textbook by Dr. Genick Bar-Meir. Bar-Meir believes his work offers material not available elsewhere in the world.
Beyond Lean: Simulation in Practice
Written by: Charles R. Standridge Ph.D. (Grand Valley State University)
Beyond Lean: Simulation in Practice is a free online engineering textbook. Through the extensive use of case studies Charles R. Standridge shows students how simulations can be effectively used to improve processes.
Dynamic Systems and Control
Written by: Mohammed Dahleh, Munther A. Dahleh and George Verghese (all from MIT)
Identified as course notes but this material could easily be considered a full online Dynamic Systems and Control textbook. Check out what’s included and what you’ll learn.
Fundamentals of Compressible Flow
Written by: Genick Bar-Meir
This engineering textbook on the Fundamentals of Compressible Flow was written by Genick Bar-Meir and is part of the Potto Project open-content project.
Holistic Numerical Methods
Website designed for STEM students learning about Holistic Numerical Methods. Textbook chapters, videos and a variety of educational materials for self-study and assistance.
Introduction to Continuum Mechanics for Engineers
Written by: Ray M. Bowen (Texas A&M University)
Free online graduate-level textbook, Introduction to Continuum Mechanics for Engineers. It has undergone several revisions; the latest in 2007.
Introduction to Vectors and Tensors, Vol 1 Linear and Multilinear Algebra
Written by: Ray M. Bowen (Texas A&M University) and C.C. Wang (Rice University)
Part 1 of a 2 volume set of free online textbooks on vectors and tensors. Part 1 focusses on linear and multilinear algebra.
