The structure and dynamics of reacting plane mixing layers

The reacting two-dimensional plane mixing layer has been studied in two configurations: a rearward facing step and a two-stream mixing layer. Observations have been made of the steady state behavior, and the unsteady behavior when the flow was forced by a specific acoustic frequency. The steady behavior of the mean properties of the reacting flows is similar to that of non-reacting free shear flows except for the global effects of thermodynamic property changes. The structure of these flows is qualitatively similar to that of non-reacting flows. Vortices form by the two-dimensional Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and grow by subharmonic combination until the mixing layer interacts with the walls. Entrainment is dominated by the two-dimensional vortex motion. Three-dimensional instabilities give rise to secondary vortices which are coherent over several Kelvin-Helmholtz structures and dominate the fine scale mixing process. The mixing transition corresponds to a loss of coherence in the layer. Unsteady behavior occurs when there are resonant interactions with the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability or the instability associated with the recirculation vortex in the rearward facing step flow. Modeling efforts are reported which show promise of simulating the essential features of plane mixing layers.A version of this paper was presented at the ASME Winter Annual Meeting of 1984 and printed in AMD-Vol. 66