Chemical Reactions in Turbulent Mixing Flows

Abstract

The purpose of this research has been to conduct fundamental investigations of turbulent mixing, chemical reaction and combustion processes in turbulent, subsonic and supersonic flows. Progress in this effort thus far has uncovered important deficiencies in conventional modeling of these phenomena, and offered alternative suggestions and formulations to address some of these deficiencies. This program is comprised of an experimental effort, an analytical modeling effort, a computational effort, and a diagnostics development and data-acquisition effort, the latter as dictated by specific needs of our experiments. Our approach has been to carry out a series of detailed theoretical and experimental studies primarily in two, well-defined, fundamentally important flow fields: free shear layers and axisymmetric jets. To elucidate molecular transport effects, experiments and theory concern themselves with both liquids and gases. Modeling efforts have been focused on both shear layers and turbulent jets, with an effort to include the physics of the molecular transport processes, as well as formulations of models that permit the full chemical kinetics of the combustion process to be incorporated. The computational studies are, at present, focused at fundamental issues pertaining to the computational simulation of both compressible and incompressible flows. This report includes an outline discussion of work completed under the sponsorship of this Grant, with six papers, which have not previously been included in past reports, or transmitted in reprint form, appended.