Near-surface turbulence for evaporative convection at an air/water interface

Turbulence measurements are reported for the flow beneath an air/water interface undergoing evaporative convection. Measurements were obtained using a two component laser Doppler velocimeter system. Two hydrodynamic boundary conditions were considered for the free surface: a shear free surface, which is the case when surfactants are absent, and a constant elasticity surface, created by depositing a monolayer of oleyl alcohol. The shear free boundary condition case results in significantly higher levels of near surface turbulence than the constant elasticity case. This difference between the two cases decreases with distance from the free surface. Profiles of the turbulent fluctuations were obtained for the horizontal and vertical velocity components and are compared with the somewhat analogous case of a heated solid wall.