- Von Kármán constant
A unitless constant describing the logarithmic velocity profile of a turbulent fluid near a no-slip boundary. The equation for such
boundary layer flow profiles is:where is the velocity at height above the roughness height where goes to 0. is the von Kármán constant (typically the value 0.41 is used), and is the
friction velocity which describes the amount of turbulence in the flow.Used in boundary layer meteorology to calculate fluxes of momentum, heat and moisture from the atmosphere to the land surface. Named for
Theodore von Kármán .See also
Turbulence modeling .References
Bonan, G. B. 2005. Land Surface Model (LSM 1.0) for Ecological, Hydrological, Atmospheric Studies. Model product. Available on-line [http://daac.ornl.gov] from Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S.A.
External links
* http://www.ccsm.ucar.edu/models/ccsm3.0/cpl6/users_guide/node21.html a list of physical constants used in the NCAR Community Climate System Model
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