A transport equation for reaction rate in turbulent flows

Journal article, 2016

New transport equations for chemical reaction rate and its mean value in turbulent flows have been derived and analyzed. Local perturbations of the reaction zone by turbulent eddies are shown to play a pivotal role even for weakly turbulent flows. The mean-reaction-rate transport equation is shown to involve two unclosed dominant terms and a joint closure relation for the sum of these two terms is developed. Obtained analytical results and, in particular, the closure relation are supported by processing two widely recognized sets of data obtained from earlier direct numerical simulations of statistically planar 1D premixed flames associated with both weak large-scale and intense small-scale turbulence.