GENERATION OF OSCILLATORY SOLUTIONS IN A POROUS CATALYST PELLET

A stability analysis concerning bifurcation to periodic solutions of s teady-state solutions has been performed for a model which describes t ransport phenomena and chemical reaction in a porous catalyst pellet. Extensive numerical simulations have revealed the existence of three s cenarios for the generation of self-excited oscillations of the mixtur e temperature and composition inside the pellet. These are the supercr itical and subcritical bifurcations to oscillatory solutions, which oc cur in the region of single steady-states, and the homoclinic bifurcat ion in the region of multiple steady-states. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.