The emerging role of multiscale methods in turbulent combustion

Abstract

Turbulent combustion flows are governed by processes that span the range from atomistic scales to device (e.g. engine) scales and beyond (e.g. oil pool fires, thermo-nuclear flames in type Ia supernovae). The multiscale nature of turbulent combustion flows poses both challenges and opportunities. The challenges arise from the need to predict combustion phenomena that are governed by a broad range of scales. The opportunities arise because of the emergence of the multiscale science that permeates many fields, and which for turbulent combustion, has been motivated by the need to predict phenomena in new and evolving combustion technologies, advances in computational and applied mathematics, and the increasing availibility of computational resources. In this chapter, strategies and requirements for the multiscale modeling and simulation of turbulent combustion flows are discussed. The chapter serves as an introductory chapter to Part III of this book. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011.