Transpiration from stomata via the leaf boundary layer: a microscale modelling approach

  • Thijs Defraeye University of Leuven
  • Pieter Verboven Division of Mechatronics, Biostatistics and Sensors (MeBioS) Department of Biosystems (BIOSYST)
  • Jan Carmeliet Laboratory for Building Science and Technology, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa)
  • Dominique Derome Laboratory for Building Science and Technology, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa)
  • Bart Nicolai Division of Mechatronics, Biostatistics and Sensors (MeBioS) Department of Biosystems (BIOSYST)
Keywords: convective transfer, transpiration, leaf, computational fluid dynamics, stomata

Abstract

Convective mass transport from entire leaf surfaces was investigated with computational fluid dynamics. A novel aspect is that the stomata were modelled discretely. The convective exchange rate was relatively large, even for the limited surface coverage by stomata, and had a complex dependency on surface coverage and air speed. In addition, insight in the boundary-layer transfer at microscale level was obtained.

Author Biographies

Thijs Defraeye, University of Leuven

Division of Mechatronics, Biostatistics and Sensors (MeBioS)

Department of Biosystems (BIOSYST)

Jan Carmeliet, Laboratory for Building Science and Technology, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa)
Chair of Building Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ)
Published
2013-06-03
Section
2A Exchange and transport processes in plants