In order for two items to react they must physically come into contact with one another.In the lab we often measure reaction rates by forcing two species to continuously mix together. However, in real systems such forced mixing mechanisms may often not exist and so a natural question arises: How do we take measurements from our well mixed laboratory experiments and use them to make meaningful predictions at scales of interest? In this talk we propose a novel modeling framework that aims precisely to do this. To show its applicability we will discuss it as related to a few examples: (i) mixing driven reactions in a quasi-well-mixed systems (ii) mixing driven reactions in a porous column experiment and (iii) mixing in a highly heterogeneous aquifer with a broad range of velocity and spatial scales.

While this work was originally motivated by chemical reactions in porous media, the modeling framework is much more general than this and should be applicable to a broad range of problems. Also, the term reaction, as defined within our framework, can loosely be defined as an event where two items come together to produce something else; it is not in any way limited to purely chemical reactions.

Professor Diogo Bolster is an Associate Professor and Frank M. Freimann Collegiate Chair in Hydrology in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering & Earth Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. His research focuses on the impacts humans have on the earth and its resources, specifically targeting environmental fluid flows and contaminant transport across a wide range of scales from groundwater flows in porous media to more confined flows in enclosed spaces such as buildings. Bolster has developed mathematical and numerical models with the goal of providing useful tools to practitioners and policy makers for effective decision-making. To date, he has published ～120 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and currently serves as an Associate Editor for the journal Hydrologic Processes. Bolster directs an active research program at Notre Dame. In 2014, Bolster was awarded a National Science Foundation Early Career Development Award. He is also a member of the American Geophysical Union, International Society for Porous Media, and American Physical Society. Bolster previously served as a board director for the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science.