Interactions between theory and experiment in the investigation of elementary reactions of importance in combustion

Elementary reactions are a central component of models of combustion processes. Rate constants and channel yields are needed for those models. Both experimental and theoretical methods used to determine such rate data are discussed in this tutorial review, which is of interest to reaction kinetics and combustion engineering communities. Applications to combustion present particular problems because the conditions required can be well outside the ranges of temperature and pressure accessible to experiment, and the rate data can show a complex dependence on conditions. Under these conditions, the interplay between theory and experiment becomes important.