Incomplete mixing and reactions in laminar shear flow.

Incomplete mixing of reactive solutes is well known to slow down reaction rates relative to what would be expected from assuming perfect mixing. In purely diffusive systems, for example, it is known that small initial fluctuations in reactant concentrations can lead to reactant segregation, which in the long run can reduce global reaction rates due to poor mixing. In contrast, nonuniform flows can enhance mixing between interacting solutes. Thus, a natural question arises: Can nonuniform flows sufficiently enhance mixing to restrain incomplete mixing effects and, if so, under what conditions? We address this question by considering a specific and simple case, namely, a laminar pure shear reactive flow. Two solution approaches are developed: a Lagrangian random walk method and a semianalytical solution. The results consistently highlight that if shear effects in the system are not sufficiently strong, incomplete mixing effects initially similar to purely diffusive systems will occur, slowing down the overall reaction rate. Then, at some later time, dependent on the strength of the shear, the system will return to behaving as if it were well mixed, but represented by a reduced effective reaction rate.