BIFURCATION OF PLANE VOIDAGE WAVES IN FLUIDIZED-BEDS

A two-dimensional fluidized bed model is investigated from a bifurcation point of view. It is shown that bifurcation to periodic travelling waves occurs when the basic state of uniform fluidization becomes unstable. The nature of these waves may be one- or two-dimensional. Here the main focus is on the bifurcation of oblique travelling waves, i.e., plane voidage waves propagating into various directions in space. These waves can be described by a two-dimensional dynamical system, which can be analyzed extensively using phase plane methods. Several stationary and periodic solutions as well as homoclinic and heteroclinic orbits are shown to exist in the model studied.