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Updated: Jul 16, 2026

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow
Published on: May 1, 2018
Stable plume rise in a shear layer
1Department of Environmental Engineering and Science, Clemson University, Anderson, SC. tjvrc@clemson.edu
Abstract:
Solutions are given for plume rise assuming a power-law wind speed profile in a stably stratified layer for point and finite sources with initial vertical momentum and buoyancy. For a constant wind speed, these solutions simplify to the conventional plume rise equations in a stable atmosphere. In a shear layer, the point of maximum rise occurs further downwind and is slightly lower compared with the plume rise with a constant wind speed equal to the wind speed at the top of the stack. If the predictions with shear are compared with predictions for an equivalent average wind speed over the depth of the plume, the plume rise with shear is higher than plume rise with an equivalent average wind speed.
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