The Atmospheric Boundary Layer for Engineers (Fluid Mechanics and Its Applications)

This book assumes no previous knowledge of the subject and the material has been selected to introduce the reader to the important ideas and applications. It is particularly well suited as an introduction to the subject for engineers. The first four chapters define and describe the atmospheric boundary layer. Thermodynamic and fluid kinematic considerations are introduced, and one chapter is devoted to the description of turbulent motion in the boundary layer of the atmosphere. The fifth chapter is a very useful presentation on dimensional methods and similarity. In Chapter 6 the complex turbulent flow over the surface of the earth is approximated by flow over the half-space of a flat plate for a neutrally stratified fluid. The final chapter describes the first 50 meters, the so-called surface layer, with reference to asymptotic theories and reliable observations.