title: Density profiles around A+B→C reaction-diffusion fronts in partially miscible systems: A general classification.
abstract: Various spatial density profiles can develop in partially miscible stratifications when a phase A dissolves with a finite solubility into a host phase containing a dissolved reactant B. We investigate theoretically the impact of an A+B→C reaction on such density profiles in the host phase and classify them in a parameter space spanned by the ratios of relative contributions to density and diffusion coefficients of the chemical species. While the density profile is either monotonically increasing or decreasing in the nonreactive case, reactions combined with differential diffusivity can create eight different types of density profiles featuring up to two extrema in density, at the reaction front or below it. We use this framework to predict various possible hydrodynamic instability scenarios inducing buoyancy-driven convection around such reaction fronts when they propagate parallel to the gravity field.
authors.affiliation: Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Faculté des Sciences, Nonlinear Physical Chemistry Unit, Campus de la Plaine - Boulevard du Triomphe CP231 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Loodts
authors.affiliation: Division of Mathematics and Statistics, University of South Wales, Pontypridd CF37 1DL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: P M J
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Trevelyan
authors.affiliation: Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Faculté des Sciences, Nonlinear Physical Chemistry Unit, Campus de la Plaine - Boulevard du Triomphe CP231 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rongy
authors.affiliation: Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Faculté des Sciences, Nonlinear Physical Chemistry Unit, Campus de la Plaine - Boulevard du Triomphe CP231 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Wit