Mechanics of turbulence of multicomponent gases (Q699447)

This book addresses difficult problems of turbulence modelling for multicomponent reacting flows with gravitational, thermic and compressibility effects. The intended domain of application is mainly in astrophysics. It presents research performed at the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the last two decades, and previous versions in Russian have already been published: ``Introduction to planetary aeronomy'' (Moscow, Nauka, 1987) and ``Turbulence of multicomponent media'' (Moscow, Nauka, 1998). Part one develops a theoretical framework. Chapter 1 introduces to turbulence and multicomponent flows, and shows how they appear in the study of atmospheres of planets and other objects in cosmology. Chapter 2 presents laminar multicomponent flows with chemical reactions, heat and mass transfer, and external conservative forces. Conservation laws are given. The idea is to bypass the kinetic theory by using methods of irreversible thermodynamics, which allows to derive multicomponent diffusion coefficients in a convenient way. Chapter 3 develops turbulence models for multicomponent reacting flows. Evolution equations (matter, momentum, energy,\dots) are presented, taking account of chemical reactions, heat and mass transfer effects, gravitational effects, and compressibility effects. Here the authors also describe rheological models (diffusion, heat, Reynolds stress). Chapter 4 is a pendant to the previous one, where the turbulence modelling is based already on second moments. Chapter 5 develops other closure models based on thermodynamics. Entropy plays a key role here. In the isotropic case, the authors again obtain rheological models. Part two applies previous results to specific physical configurations (planetary atmospheres, gas-dust nebulae). The final chapter eight is devoted to linking the results with experimental measurements in the above-mentioned context. This volume will be a very useful reference for researchers in turbulence modelling.