Bj. Delarue et Sb. Pope, CALCULATIONS OF SUBSONIC AND SUPERSONIC TURBULENT REACTING MIXING LAYERS USING PROBABILITY DENSITY-FUNCTION METHODS, Physics of fluids, 10(2), 1998, pp. 487-498
A particle method applying the probability density function (PDF) appr
oach to turbulent compressible reacting flows is presented. The method
is applied to low and high Mach number reacting plane mixing layers.
Good agreement is obtained between the model calculations and the avai
lable experimental data. The PDF equation is solved using a Lagrangian
Monte Carlo method. To represent the effects of compressibility on th
e flow, the velocity PDF formulation is extended to include thermodyna
mic variables such as the pressure and the internal energy. Full closu
re of the joint PDF transport equation is made possible in this way wi
thout coupling to a finite-difference-type solver. The stochastic diff
erential equations (SDE) that model the evolution of Lagrangian partic
le properties are based on existing models for the effects of compress
ibility on turbulence. The chemistry studied is the fast hydrogen-fluo
rine reaction. For the low Mach number runs, low heat release calculat
ions are performed with equivalence ratios different from one. Heat re
lease is then increased to study the effect of chemical reaction on th
e mixing layer growth rate. The subsonic results are compared with exp
erimental data, and good overall agreement is obtained. The calculatio
ns are then performed at a higher Mach number, and the results are com
pared with the subsonic results. Our purpose in this paper is not to a
ssess the performances of existing models for compressible or reacting
flows. It is rather to present a new approach extending the domain of
applicability of PDF methods to high-speed combustion. (C) 1998 Ameri
can Institute of Physics. [S1070-6631(98)00302-X].