boundary layer

noun

, Physics.

1. the portion of a fluid flowing past a body that is in the immediate vicinity of the body and that has a reduced flow due to the forces of adhesion and viscosity.

boundary layer

noun

1. the layer of fluid closest to the surface of a solid past which the fluid flows: it has a lower rate of flow than the bulk of the fluid because of its adhesion to the solid

Word History and Origins

Origin of boundary layer¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

From the amount of iridium found in the boundary layer, Walter Alvarez’s father Luis Alvarez, a Manhattan Project veteran and Nobel Prize-winning physicist, calculated the size of an asteroid that would be necessary to coat the globe in iridium.

From Nautilus