THE DIRECT CALCULATION OF PERIODIC STATES OF THE REVERSE FLOW REACTOR.2. MULTIPLICITY AND INSTABILITY

The strength of the direct calculation methodology for investigating t he periodic solutions of the reverse flow reactor is demonstrated by s tudying two complex manifestations of the systems nonlinearity: multip licity and instability. First we analyze the propane-propene fuel mixt ures to determine all possible feed ranges where two stable, ignited s olutions can co-exist. Calculations when catalytic sections of the rea ctor are replaced with inert sections show how this design modificatio n can force the reactor to the desired stable solution. At other param eter values, we show how the Floquet stability analysis can be used in conjunction with direct calculation to detect bifurcations of symmetr ic solutions to unsymmetric and periodic solutions. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd