Robert Frederick Heinemann

Numerical computation of periodic solution branches and oscillatory dynamics of the stirred tank reactor with A → B → C reactions

Abstract We use a continuation technique for branches of periodic solutions to investigate the oscillatory behavior of a continuously stirred tank reactor with consecutive A → B → C reactions. This continuation technique allows the computation of entire periodic solution branches, including those with limit points and asymptotically unstable solutions. Our computations reveal dynamic phenomena not seen in previous studies of this reactor. The results include response diagrams exhibiting stable and unstable periodic branches that contain multiple limit points. The presence of these points indicates that the reactor may jump from a steady state to a periodic orbit or from one orbit to another. The computations also illustrate interactions of multiple steady state limit points, Hopf bifurcations and infinite periodic bifurcations.