When   Monday, May 11, 2009   Time   4:00 PM - 5:00 PM  
Where   Technological Institute M 416 2145 Sheridan Rd.   map it
Audience   - Faculty/Staff - Student - Public
Contact   Molly E Scanlon   +1 847 491 5586  
Group   McCormick-Colloquia Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics

Applied Math Colloquium

Title: Front propagation and synchronization in reactive flows with chaotic mixing

Speaker: Professor Tom Solomon, Bucknell University

Abstract:

We present the results of experimental studies of the behavior of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) chemical reaction in vortex flows with chaotic advection. When the BZ reaction is excitable, it produces pulse-like fronts whose propagation speed depends on the flow and the mixing properties. Moving vortices in the flow tend to pin and drag fronts, resulting in mode-locking behavior for periodic time-dependence. We are currently extending these studies to spatially disordered and weakly turbulent flows, modeling the vortices as pinning centers that drag the front. If the flow contains jet regions, Levy flights and superdiffusive transport are possible. We are investigating changes in front propagation due to these flights. If the BZ reaction is oscillatory, each vortex and its oscillating reactants act like a node in a fluid network that is connected by chaotic mixing. We find that this network tends to synchronize if the mixing is superdiffusive with Levy flights.