Boundary layers of air adjacent to cylinders: estimation of effective thickness and measurements on plant material

Abstract

Using existing heat transfer data, a relatively simple expression was developed for estimating the effective thickness of the boundary layer of air surrounding cylinders. For wind velocities from 10 to 1000 cm/second, the calculated boundary-layer thickness agreed with that determined for water vapor diffusion from a moistened cylindrical surface 2 cm in diameter. It correctly predicted the resistance for water vapor movement across the boundary layers adjacent to the (cylindrical) inflorescence stems of Xanthorrhoea australis R. Br. and Scirpus validus Vahl and the leaves of Allium cepa L. The boundary-layer thickness decreased as the turbulence intensity increased. For a turbulence intensity representative of field conditions (0.5) and for nu(wind)d between 200 and 30,000 cm(2)/second (where nu(wind) is the mean wind velocity and d is the cylinder diameter), the effective boundary-layer thickness in centimeters was equal to [Formula: see text].