Chaotic mixing of a competitive–consecutive reaction

The evolution of a competitive–consecutive chemical reaction is computed numerically in a two-dimensional chaotic fluid flow with initially segregated reactants. Results from numerical simulations are used to evaluate a variety of reduced models commonly adopted to model the full advection–reaction–diffusion problem. Particular emphasis is placed upon fast reactions, where the yield varies most significantly with Péclet number (the ratio of diffusive to advective time scales). When effects of the fluid mechanical mixing are strongest, we find that the yield of the reaction is underestimated by a one-dimensional lamellar model that ignores the effects of fluid mixing, but overestimated by two other lamellar models that include fluid mixing.