Semi-analytical solution of the steady three-dimensional advection-diffusion equation in the planetary boundary layer

We present a three-dimensional solution of the steady-state advection-diffusion equation considering a vertically inhomogeneous planetary boundary layer (PBL). We reach this goal applying the generalized integral transform technique (GITT), a hybrid method that had solved a wide class of direct and inverse problems mainly in the area of heat transfer and fluid mechanics. The transformed problem is solved by the advection-diffusion multilayer model (ADMM) method, a semi-analytical solution based on a discretization of the PBL in sub-layers where the advection-diffusion equation is solved by the Laplace transform technique. Numerical simulations are presented and the performances of the solution are compared against field experiments data. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.