The analysis of periodic and strange attractors during density-wave oscillations in boiling flows

Abstract

The occurrence of periodic and strange attractors for a boiling flow is considered. A non-linear homogeneous one-dimensional two-phase flow model of the conservation equations is analyzed using a nodal averaging method to obtain a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. It was found that, for constant pressure drop boundary conditions, the flow undergoes a supercritical bifurcation evolving to a stable limit cycle due to density-wave instability. A cascade of bifurcations leading to chaos was found at low flow rate conditions in a system comprised of a boiling channel coupled with an adiabatic riser.