The effect of convection on a propagating front with a liquid product: Comparison of theory and experiments

This work is devoted to the investigation of propagating polymerization fronts converting a liquid monomer into a liquid polymer. We consider a simplified mathematical model which consists of the heat equation and equation for the depth of conversion for one-step chemical reaction and of the Navier-Stokes equations under the Boussinesq approximation. We fulfill the linear stability analysis of the stationary propagating front and find conditions of convective and thermal instabilities. We show that convection can occur not only for ascending fronts but also for descending fronts. Though in the latter case the exothermic chemical reaction heats the cold monomer from above, the instability appears and can be explained by the interaction of chemical reaction with hydrodynamics. Hydrodynamics changes also conditions of the thermal instability. The front propagating upwards becomes less stable than without convection, the front propagating downwards more stable. The theoretical results are compared with experiments. The experimentally measured stability boundary for polymerization of benzyl acrylate in dimethyl formamide is well approximated by the theoretical stability boundary. (c) 1998 American Institute of Physics.     

Stability of convective patterns in reaction fronts: a comparison of three models

Autocatalytic reaction fronts generate density gradients that may lead to convection. Fronts propagating in vertical tubes can be flat, axisymmetric, or nonaxisymmetric, depending on the diameter of the tube. In this paper, we study the transitions to convection as well as the stability of different types of fronts. We analyze the stability of the convective reaction fronts using three different models for front propagation. We use a model based on a reaction-diffusion-advection equation coupled to the Navier-Stokes equations to account for fluid flow. A second model replaces the reaction-diffusion equation with a thin front approximation where the front speed depends on the front curvature. We also introduce a new low-dimensional model based on a finite mode truncation. This model allows a complete analysis of all stable and unstable fronts.     

Global Solutions to a Reactive Boussinesq System with Front Data on an Infinite Domain

We prove the existence of global solutions to a coupled system of Navier–Stokes, and reaction-diffusion equations (for temperature and mass fraction) with prescribed front data on an infinite vertical strip or tube. This system models a one-step exothermic chemical reaction. The heat release induced volume expansion is accounted for via the Boussinesq approximation. The solutions are time dependent moving fronts in the presence of fluid convection. In the general setting, the fronts are subject to intensive Rayleigh-Taylor and thermal-diffusive instabilities. Various physical quantities, such as fluid velocity, temperature, and front speed, can grow in time. We show that the growth is at most for large time t by constructing a nonlinear functional on the temperature and mass fraction components. These results hold for arbitrary order reactions in two space dimensions and for quadratic and cubic reactions in three space dimensions. In the absence of any thermal-diffusive instability (unit Lewis number), and with weak fluid coupling, we construct a class of fronts moving through shear flows. Although the front speeds may oscillate in time, we show that they are uniformly bounded for large t. The front equation shows the generic time-dependent nature of the front speeds and the straining effect of the flow field. Received: 15 January 1996 / Accepted: 2 September 1997     

Order parameter description of walk-off effect on pattern selection in degenerate optical parametric oscillators

Degenerate optical parametric oscillators can exhibit both uniformly translating fronts and nonuniformly translating envelope fronts under the walk-off effect. The nonlinear dynamics near threshold is shown to be described by a real convective Swift-Hohenberg equation, which provides the main characteristics of the walk-off effect on pattern selection. The predictions of the selected wave vector and the absolute instability threshold are in very good quantitative agreement with numerical solutions found from the equations describing the optical parametric oscillator.     

Bending of a strong-explosion-induced shock wave around a density singularity (as applied to the remnants of hypernovae)

The remnants of hypernovae, which can correspond to cosmological gamma-ray bursts, are analyzed on the basis of the Kompaneets equation in the strong explosion approximation. Exact solutions to the Kompaneets equation are obtained, and the shape of shock-wave fronts from a noncentral point explosion in a medium whose density decreases quadratically with the distance from the density singularity and tends to a constant at large distances. The bending of the shock-wave front around a density singularity is discussed. The results are compared with data on X-ray sources that can correspond to hypernovae.     

Nonlinear theory of transverse perturbations of quasi-one-dimensional solitons

An averaged variational principle is applied to analyze the nonlinear effect of transverse perturbations (including diffraction) on quasi-one-dimensional soliton propagation governed by various wave equations. It is shown that parameters of the spatiotemporal solitons described by the cubic Schrödinger equation and the Yajima-Oikawa model of interaction between long-and short-wavelength waves satisfy the spatial quintic nonlinear Schrödinger equation for a complex-valued function composed of the amplitude and eikonal of the soliton. Three-dimensional solutions are found for two-component “bullets” having long-and short-wavelength components. Vortex and hole-vortex structures are found for envelope solitons and for two-component solitons in the regime of resonant long/short-wave coupling. Weakly nonlinear behavior of transverse perturbations of one-dimensional soliton solutions in a self-defocusing medium is described by the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation. The corresponding rationally localized “lump” solutions can be considered as secondary solitons propagating along the phase fronts of the primary solitons. This conclusion holds for primary solitons described by a broad class of nonlinear wave equations.     

A uniform approximation for the eigenmodes of a planar dielectric waveguide

This paper derives a new approximation for the eigenmodes of a planar waveguide. The approximation is uniformly valid at both the high and low frequency regions of the dispersion relation. It is shown that a Pade approximation of the frequency equation leads to very accurate solutions. The new approximate solution is used to compute the frequency spectrum and the results compared with the exact analytical solution. The solutions presented here are ideal for analytically studying transient wave fields by means of modal summation.     

Universality class of fluctuating pulled fronts

It has recently been proposed that fluctuating "pulled" fronts propagating into an unstable state should not be in the standard Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class for rough interface growth. We introduce an effective field equation for this class of problems, and show on the basis of it that noisy pulled fronts in d+1 bulk dimensions should be in the universality class of the ((d+1)+1)D KPZ equation rather than of the (d+1)D KPZ equation. Our scenario ties together a number of heretofore unexplained observations in the literature, and is supported by previous numerical results.     

Acoustic shock wave propagation in a heterogeneous medium: a numerical simulation beyond the parabolic approximation

Numerical simulation of nonlinear acoustics and shock waves in a weakly heterogeneous and lossless medium is considered. The wave equation is formulated so as to separate homogeneous diffraction, heterogeneous effects, and nonlinearities. A numerical method called heterogeneous one-way approximation for resolution of diffraction (HOWARD) is developed, that solves the homogeneous part of the equation in the spectral domain (both in time and space) through a one-way approximation neglecting backscattering. A second-order parabolic approximation is performed but only on the small, heterogeneous part. So the resulting equation is more precise than the usual standard or wide-angle parabolic approximation. It has the same dispersion equation as the exact wave equation for all forward propagating waves, including evanescent waves. Finally, nonlinear terms are treated through an analytical, shock-fitting method. Several validation tests are performed through comparisons with analytical solutions in the linear case and outputs of the standard or wide-angle parabolic approximation in the nonlinear case. Numerical convergence tests and physical analysis are finally performed in the fully heterogeneous and nonlinear case of shock wave focusing through an acoustical lens.     

On Traveling Wave Fronts in a Bacterial Growth Model with Density-Dependent Diffusion and Chemotaxis

Bacterial colonies often generate patterns that are characterized by fingerlike projections growing out of the propagating front. In this paper, we analyze the traveling wave fronts in bacterial growth model that accounts for chemotactic movement as well as random motion in density-dependent diffusion. Specifically, the existence of traveling wave solutions to model equations is examined by means of methods of local linear and nonlinear analysis, and numerical simulations. The occurrence is shown of both sharp and smooth traveling wave fronts.     

Convection in chemical fronts with quadratic and cubic autocatalysis

Convection in chemical fronts enhances the speed and determines the curvature of the front. Convection is due to density gradients across the front. Fronts propagating in narrow vertical tubes do not exhibit convection, while convection develops in tubes of larger diameter. The transition to convection is determined not only by the tube diameter, but also by the type of chemical reaction. We determine the transition to convection for chemical fronts with quadratic and cubic autocatalysis. We show that quadratic fronts are more stable to convection than cubic fronts. We compare these results to a thin front approximation based on an eikonal relation. In contrast to the thin front approximation, reaction-diffusion models show a transition to convection that depends on the ratio between the kinematic viscosity and the molecular diffusivity. (c) 2002 American Institute of Physics.     

Front Speed in the Burgers Equation with a Random Flux

We study the large-time asymptotic shock-front speed in an inviscid Burgers equation with a spatially random flux function. This equation is a prototype for a class of scalar conservation laws with spatial random coefficients such as the well-known Buckley–Leverett equation for two-phase flows, and the contaminant transport equation in groundwater flows. The initial condition is a shock located at the origin (the indicator function of the negative real line). We first regularize the equation by a special random viscous term so that the resulting equation can be solved explicitly by a Cole–Hopf formula. Using the invariance principle of the underlying random processes and the Laplace method, we prove that for large times the solutions behave like fronts moving at averaged constant speeds in the sense of distribution. However, the front locations are random, and we show explicitly the probability of observing the head or tail of the fronts. Finally, we pass to the inviscid limit, and establish the same results for the inviscid shock fronts.     

Nonlinear propagation of optical pulses of a few oscillations duration in dielectric media

Using a semi-phenomenological model of the polarization response of an isotropic solid dielectric that does not resort to the slowly-varying-envelope approximation, we have obtained a nonlinear wave equation for the electric field of a femtosecond light pulse propagating in the given dielectric. Evidence is presented that this equation possesses breatherlike solutions in the region of anomalous group dispersion and does not have any solutions in the form of steady-state traveling solitary video pulses. A universal relation is found linking the minimum possible duration of a breatherlike pulse with the medium parameters. It is shown that such a pulse contains roughly one and a half periods of the light-wave. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 111, 404–418 (February 1997)     

Surface tension driven flow on a thin reaction front

Surface tension driven convection affects the propagation of chemical reaction fronts in liquids. The changes in surface tension across the front generate this type of convection. The resulting fluid motion increases the speed and changes the shape of fronts as observed in the iodate-arsenous acid reaction. We calculate these effects using a thin front approximation, where the reaction front is modeled by an abrupt discontinuity between reacted and unreacted substances. We analyze the propagation of reaction fronts of small curvature. In this case the front propagation equation becomes the deterministic Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation with the addition of fluid flow. These results are compared to calculations based on a set of reaction-diffusion-convection equations.     

Spatially localized autowave under spatio-temporal fluctuations

Abstract

The influence of white noise on a propagating stable front (SF) in an essentially dissipative system that is characterized by nonlinearities of N-type is analysed. The governing evolution equation of the considered SFs is a nonlinear partial differential equation of parabolic type, and the influence of the noise on SFs is described by the additive torque which fluctuates randomly in space and time. The randomly perturbed front solutions of the evolution equation are derived with the help of a perturbative technique that is useful in the quite general case of N-systems discussed here. A particular case of the stochastic PDE which describes Gunn waves, i.e. the propagating fronts of the electric field in a semiconductor specimen, is examined explicitly. Two different ensembles of the ‘randomly walking’ SFs are studied in detail. The averaged characteristics as well as the probability distributions, describing the randomly perturbed front solutions, are presented for each of the considered ensembles.     

Quasi-periodic wave solutions,soliton solutions,and integrability to a (2+1)-dimensional generalized Bogoyavlensky-Konopelchenko equation

In this paper, a (2+1)-dimensional generalized Bogoyavlensky–Konopelchenko (gBK) equation is investigated, which can be used to describe the interaction of a Riemann wave propagating along y-axis and a long wave propagating along x-axis. The complete integrability of the gBK equation is systematically presented. By employing Bell’s polynomials, a lucid and systematic approach is proposed to systematically study its bilinear formalism, bilinear Bäcklund transformations, Lax pairs, respectively. Furthermore, based on multidimensional Riemann theta functions, the periodic wave solutions and soliton solutions of the gBK equation are derived. Finally, an asymptotic relation between the periodic wave solutions and soliton solutions are strictly established under a certain limit condition.     

Lithium ionization by a strong laser field

We study ab initio computations of the interaction of lithium with a strong laser field. Numerical solutions of the time-dependent fully correlated three-particle Schrodinger equation restricted to the one-dimensional soft-core approximation are presented. Our results show a clear transition from nonsequential to sequential double ionization for increasing intensities. Nonsequential double ionization is found to be sensitive to the spin configuration of the ionized pair. This asymmetry, also found in experiments of photoionization of Li with synchrotron radiation, shows evidence of the influence of the exclusion principle on the underlying rescattering mechanism.     

势函数分析高斯光束在对数饱和非线性介质中的传播

导出了在对数饱和非线性介质中传播的强激光基模高斯光束宽度随传播距离变化的方程。此方程与势作用下粒子的运动方程形式一致,因此可用势作用下的粒子行为来描述高斯光束的呼吸模式。对势函数采用二阶近似后,求解此方程得到高斯型呼吸模式的光束宽度的近似解析式。分析了呼吸周期和呼吸深度与入射条件的关系,以及形成空间孤子的条件。     

势函数分析高斯光束在对数饱和

 导出了在对数饱和非线性介质中传播的强激光基模高斯光束宽度随传播距离变化的方程。此方程与势作用下粒子的运动方程形式一致,因此可用势作用下的粒子行为来描述高斯光束的呼吸模式。对势函数采用二阶近似后,求解此方程得到高斯型呼吸模式的光束宽度的近似解析式。分析了呼吸周期和呼吸深度与入射条件的关系, 以及形成空间孤子的条件。