Reactions in chaotic flows

Abstract

AbstractIn this pedagogical review we summarize recent results on reactivity in chaotic hydrodynamical flows, in both open regimes and closed containers. In open flows, reaction is concentrated on the fractal filaments of the unstable manifold of a chaotic saddle. In closed flows, the product does not show a well-defined fractal property, nevertheless, there is a transient filamentary structure present. We derive a rate equation both for frontal (autocatalytic-like) and acid-base reactions in both types of flows. In open flows, this equation indicates that reactions are enhanced by the unstable manifold, which serves as a fractal catalyst. In closed flows, the effect of transient filamentary patterns can be taken into account by the coupling of the reactive dynamics to a time-dependent effective dimension.KeywordsUnstable ManifoldOpen FlowFractal FilamentFilamentary StructureClosed ContainerThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.