APPLICATIONS OF DETERMINISTIC CHAOS THEORY TO CORROSION

In recent years there has been a considerable increase in interest in the behavior of non-linear dynamical systems. Under some circumstances , these systems exhibit a behavior which has been termed deterministic chaos. This means that the system is always behaving in a determinist ic way, that is, non-random; but the detailed behavior is extremely se nsitive to the initial conditions, and in the long range is completely unpredictable. One effect of this is that if a numerical model is bei ng analyzed, then the round-off errors and methods of approximation ca n also contribute to the long-range predictability. Under some circums tances, this lack of predictability is undesirable, and the aim in tha t case is to ensure that the system does not move into a chaotic regim e. However, the chaotic regime corresponds to very good mixing, and in systems such as chemical reactors this may be the desirable condition . The lack of predictability does, however, present control problems. In this paper, the possibility that some corrosion processes may exhib it chaotic behavior is examined, and the implications of such behavior are discussed.