DETERMINISTIC CHAOS IN THE GAS INLET PRESSURE OF GAS-LIQUID BUBBLING SYSTEMS

In an attempt to assess the suggestion that submerged gas injection can under certain conditions be described as exhibiting chaotic dynamics, a short analysis has been undertaken on the results of a set of experiments over a limited set of conditions including the variation of chamber volume, injection nozzle diameter, liquid viscosity, and gas flow rate at a temperature of 20 °C. A convenient noninvasive approach is demonstrated using the upstream pressure signal to reconstruct the return map attractors. The classic period doubling sequence leading to irregular behavior is observed only over certain system parameter ranges. The important parameters believed to be responsible for the deterministic chaotic behavior and their relationship are briefly discussed. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.