Intermittency route to chaos in a periodically forced model reaction system

Abstract

We analyse a model catalytic, isothermal reaction under conditions of periodic forcing. The reaction scheme given by aA + sS → pP where S represents a non-ionizing substrate and A an acid substrate, was previously studied by Bruns et al., (1973). The reaction is assumed to be carried out in continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) The concentration of species A and S are maintained constant via exchange through impermeable membranes. The unforced model, in two different parameter regions was known to exhibit limit cycle oscillations and a multiplicity of steady states. We have shown that depending upon the magnitude of the forcing amplitude, the system shows transitions from a three-peak periodic state to chaos and from a five-peak periodic state to chaos. The transitions were found to follow an intermittency route to chaos and the intermittency was characterized as type 1. The chaotic behaviour was characterized in terms of the Lyapunov exponents and the fractal dimension