A theory for local evaporation (or heat transfer) from rough and smooth surfaces at ground level

Abstract

A model proposed earlier (Brutsaert, 1965) for evaporation as a molecular diffusion process into a turbulent atmosphere is extended by joining it with the similarity models for turbulent transfer in the surface sublayer. The assumed mechanisms were suggested by available flow visualization studies near smooth and rough walls; the theoretical result is in good agreement with available experimental evidence. The important dimensionless parameters governing the phenomenon near the surface are the Dalton (or Stanton) number (i.e., mass transfer coefficient), the drag coefficient (u*2/U2), the roughness Reynolds number (u*z0/v) (except for smooth surfaces), and the Schmidt (or Prandtl) number (v/k). The proposed formulation allows the evaluation of the effects of some parameters, such as surface roughness or molecular diffusivity, that were hitherto not well understood. An important practical result is that in contrast to the drag coefficient, the Dalton number is relatively insensitive to changes in roughness length Z0.