Simulation of Reacting Flow

Abstract

Reacting flows arise in a wide variety of settings representing diverse physical environments and having substantial variation in their dominant characteristics.  The key to developing effective and efficient numerical algorithms for reacting flows is to tailor both the model and the algorithms to exploit the specific features of a given problem.  Here we consider three reacting flow examples: high-speed burning in a post-explosion environment, laboratory-scale premixed combustion, and nuclear flames in type Ia supernovae.  For each case, we discuss the relevant physical processes and characteristic scales.  We then discuss how the problem characteristics are reflected in both the formulation and algorithm design for that problem and illustrate the application of the resulting computational methodology.  We conclude with a discussion of the issues arising from the implementation of these algorithms on high-end massively parallel architectures and the implication of these issues for the future direction of computational science research.