The ζ-adsorption isotherm was used along with Gibbsian thermodynamics to determine an expression for the surface tension of solid-vapour interface. This expression was examined at low pressures to predict the surface tension of solids in the absence of adsorption, γS0. The method indicated the same value of γS0 for a solid using different vapour adsorption isotherms. A method based on the system stability was developed to predict the contact angle. The findings indicated that the contact angle is a thermodynamic property which depends on the state of the system. Furthermore, the dependence of contact angle on the curvature of three-phase contact line was described by the adsorption at the solid-liquid interface without the introduction of line tension. The energy transport mechanisms during steady-state evaporation of water-sessile droplets were studied. By suppressing the buoyancy-driven convection, the active modes of energy transport were thermal conduction and thermocapillary convection. The experiments on Cu, Au (111) and PDMS showed that the dominant mode of energy transport varies along the liquid-vapor interface. Near the droplet apex, thermal conduction provides enough energy for the evaporation. However, close to three-phase contact line where most of the evaporation occurs, thermocapillary convection is by far the dominant mode of energy transport. In the evaporation experiments on PDMS, the measured directions of thermocapillary convection were opposite of the predicted ones by other studies, since the energy carried by thermocapillary convection was neglected in the previous studies. The study was followed by examination of temperature boundary condition and energy transport at the solid-liquid interface. It was concluded that there is an adsorbed layer at the solid-liquid interface with different thermal properties compared to those of bulk liquid phase. This layer causes a resistance (Kapitsa resistance) and consequently a temperature discontinuity at the adsorbed layer-bulk liquid interface. Due to the high resistance at this interface, only a small portion of energy conducted by solid substrate enters directly to the bulk liquid phase. The remainder was transported through the adsorbed layer to the three-phase contact line. This energy was then distributed along the liquid-vapour interface by thermocapillary convection to be consumed by the evaporation process.

No description available.

No description available.

The spatial distribution of local evaporation from ground-based sources behind solid and porous windbreaks was studied in laboratory models for steady state and intermittent flows. Field observations of wind and turbulence characteristics (turbulence intensity, power spectra and integral length scale L) over surfaces whose zero displacement (d) and roughness length (z$ sb0$) had also been determined, were used to scale the laboratory simulations. Scaling parameters were z/z$ sb0$, $ sigma$/U, L/z$ sb0$ and Uz$ sb{0}$/K, where z, U, $ sigma$ and K are height, wind speed, standard deviation of velocity fluctuations and turbulent diffusivity, respectively. The 50% porosity barrier was found to be the most effective single-barrier set-up for the reduction of moisture loss. / Conditional sampling of fluctuations w' and q' of the wind and moisture, respectively, with sonic anemometer and fast-response Krypton hygrometer behind solid and porous windbreaks in the field, revealed frequency of occurrence, duration and intensity of those turbulent structures primarily responsible for moisture transfer.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (M.S. - Hydrology and Water Resources)--University of Arizona. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-73).

Thesis (Ph. D - Soil, Water abd Environmental Science) - University of Arizona. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. [116]-122).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Chemistry." Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-75).