Nonlinear Dynamics of Mixing and Reaction

Professor Jerry Gollub
UCSB Visiting Professor

Haverford College and University of Pennsylvania

Date: Thursday, January 20, 2005
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Place: Engineering II, Room 3361

ABSTRACT

Various ideas known collectively as “nonlinear dynamics,” including especially geometrical thinking about structures in phase space, have substantially influenced our understanding of the mixing of fluids. In this talk, I show how nonlinear concepts such as fixed points, invariant manifolds of flow maps, and stretching fields can be measured and how they can give insight into fluid missing. We also study a simple chemical reaction that occurs at the interface between two domains in the presence of stirring, and we show how to gain insight into the growth and evolution of the product field due to reaction, advection, and diffusion.