The horizontal cross-sectional shape of convective plumes

✍ Scribed by Douglas S. Davison

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1975
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 651 KB
• Volume: 101
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0035-9009
• DOI: 10.1002/qj.49710142905

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The horizontal cross‐sectional shape of the temperature field of convective plumes at a height of 3·5m in the atmospheric surface layer was observed to be very elongated in the downwind direction with a ratio of downstream to cross‐stream diameters of about 8:1. A dynamic explanation for this elongated shape is presented, based upon the minimization of the heat flux lost by a plume due to turbulent mixing around its boundary.