Pattern of reaction diffusion fronts in laminar flows

Autocatalytic reaction between reacted and unreacted species may propagate as solitary waves, namely, at a constant front velocity and with a stationary concentration profile, resulting from a balance between molecular diffusion and chemical reaction. The effect of advective flow on the autocatalytic reaction between iodate and arsenous acid in cylindrical tubes and Hele-Shaw cells is analyzed experimentally and numerically using lattice Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook simulations. We do observe the existence of solitary waves with concentration profiles exhibiting a cusp and we delineate the eikonal and mixing regimes recently predicted.