The Atmospheric Boundary Layer for Engineers

This brief scenerio of Earth's topography reveals the complexity of flow very close to the Earth's surface that is hardly flat except at the oceans' surface which consists of about 70% of the total Earth's surface. This text on the atmospheric boundary layer assumes no previous knowledge of the subject and the material has been selected to introduce the reader to the important ideas and applications. It should be particularly appropriate 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.