ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that formulations based on coupling functions are particularly useful for reacting boundary layers. It addresses a general theoretical framework, within which a wide variety of reacting boundary-layer problems. The chapter illustrates the application of the theory, the burning of a flat plate of fuel in an oxidizing stream and explores the mechanisms of flame stabilization and processes of flame spread and shows that the onset of combustion can cause the boundary-layer approximation to fail. Combustion processes in which flames interact with solid or liquid surfaces are relatively complicated, yet are of importance under many conditions of interest. The distance along the plate from the point at which heating is initiated to the point at which heat begins to flow back into the plate is a measure of the length of a hot plate required to stabilize a flame. A number of different specific criteria for flame attachment in the mixing zone may be identified.
