Fast algorithm for calculating chemical kinetics in turbulent reacting flow

The design of a very fast, automatic black-box code for homogeneous, gas-phase chemical kinetics problems requires an understanding of the physical and numerical sources of computational inefficiency. Some major sources reviewed in this paper are stiffness of the governing ordinary differential equations and its detection, choice of appropriate method (i.e., integration algorithm plus stepsize control strategy), nonphysical initial conditions, and too frequent evaluation of thermochemical and kinetic properties. Specific techniques are recommended (and some advised against) for improving or overcoming the identified problem areas. It is argued that, because reactive species increase exponentially with time during induction and early heat release, and all species exhibit asymptotic, exponential decay with time during late heat release and equilibration, exponential-fitted integration algorithms are inherently more accurate for kinetics modeling than classical, polynomial-interpolant methods for the same computational work