In this study, a model is developed in which a portion of the reacting flow in a plug flow reactor is recirculated back onto the inlet flow. In addressing the inherent non-uniformities in the primary zone of a combustor, the Recirculating Plug Flow Reactor should provide a superior method of correlating combustor performance over previous methods. This model was found to be governed by two parameters: the recirculation time required to complete the circuit and the ratio of the recirculated flow to the inlet flow. For a sufficiently large recirculation time, the characteristic reaction rate varied with this ratio. For a sufficiently small recirculation time, a distinct flame stability limit was observed.
