Hydrodynamic instabilities coupled with complex chemical reactions: control, characterization and their modeling

Abstract

The coupling between processes of different nature has been one of the fundamental pillars in the development of many branches of science. The generation of synergies not only enriches the behavior that a dynamic system can show, but also can help to understand complex phenomena providing answers to many problems of major importance for life in general. The purpose of studying this type of couplings lies in finding control points that allow altering and controlling the dynamic conditions of the system in order to better understand its behavior. Thus, this work will be focused on finding dynamic couplings between two different worlds. On the one hand, the field of hydrodynamic instabilities and on the other hand, the field of what is called complex chemical reactions. Within the field of hydrodynamic instabilities, this thesis will abord a particular type of instabilities known as fingering instabilities. These types of instabilities occur when a fluid of higher mobility comes into contact with one of lower mobility and displaces it. Within the field of chemistry, systems like the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction or pH-shifting reactions will be addressed. These reactions exhibit a characteristic complex behavior (such as oscillations, bistability, or spatiotemporal pattern formation) and were used as a model of many systems in nature. This study will present systematically a complete characterization of diverse chemo-hydrodynamic systems. The existence of effective couplings will be demonstrated, and theoretical mechanisms will be proposed and reproduced through the use of numerical simulations.