Turbulent Schmidt number and eddy diffusivity change with a chemical reaction

We provide empirical evidence that the eddy diffusivity D-t alpha and the turbulent Schmidt number Sc-t alpha of species alpha (alpha = A; B or R) change with a second-order chemical reaction (A + B -> R). In this study, concentrations of the reactive species and axial velocity are simultaneously measured in a planar liquid jet. Reactant A is premixed into the jet flow and reactant B is premixed into the ambient flow. An optical fibre probe based on light absorption spectrometry is combined with I-type hot-film anemometry to simultaneously measure concentration and velocity in the reactive flow. The eddy diffusivities and the turbulent Schmidt numbers are estimated from the simultaneous measurement results. The results show that the chemical reaction increases Sc-tA; Sc-tB is negative in the region where the mean concentration of reactant B decreases in the downstream direction, and is positive in the non-reactive flow in the entire region on the jet centreline. It is also shown that Sc-tR is positive in the upstream region whereas it is negative in the downstream region. The production terms of axial turbulent mass fluxes of reactant B and product R can produce axial turbulent mass fluxes opposite to the axial gradients of the mean concentrations. The changes in the production terms due to the chemical reaction result in the negative turbulent Schmidt number of these species. These results imply that the gradient diffusion model using a global constant turbulent Schmidt number poorly predicts turbulent mass fluxes in reactive flows.