A mathematical model for turbulent reacting plumes

A new Turbulent Reacting Plume Model (TRPM) is described which offers a quantitative description of the various physical and chemical processes that take place when species emitted from strongly localized sources react at nonlinear rates with constituents of the background air. The fundamental working equations of the TRPM for a second-order reaction are tabulated. The core of the model is a 'master module', devoted to the description of the interacting processes. It contains the differential evolution and/or algebraic local equilibrium equations (depending on the assumptions appropriate for each specific system) for 'progress variables' characterizing the state of the distributed parameter dispersion and reaction system. A new progress variable, xi, that utilizes spatially varying stoichiometry to reduce computational burden when the number of reactants is larger than the number of reactions, and at the same time is a quantitative measure of the effect of mixing on reaction at each point, is introduced and used. Model testing, using wind-tunnel data on the irreversible NO + O3 yields NO2 reaction, is described.