The Effects of Thermal Stratification on Turbulent Diffusion from a Continuous Fixed Source

The similarity principle is employed to determine the maximum velocity of the vertical propagation of a diffusing smoke flowing from a continuous fixed source in a stratified fluid. With the use of the velocity profile (KAO, 1959) for a stratified fluid the profile of the boundaries of the smoke plume is evaluated numerically for various values of the stability parameter s₀ = kgz₀Q (c_p ̄ϱT̄)^–1 u_*^–3_μ. It is shown that the spreading of a smoke plume generally increases with increasing heat flux from the boundary surface.