Nonlinear/chaotic behaviour in thermo-acoustic instability

This paper is concerned with the dynamic system nonlinear behaviour encountered in classical thermo-acoustic instability. The Poincaré map is adopted to analyse the stability of a simple non-autonomous system considering a harmonic oscillation behaviour for the combustion environment. The bifurcation diagram of a one-mode model is obtained where the analysis reveals a variety of chaotic behaviours for some select ranges of the bifurcation parameter. The bifurcation parameter and the corresponding period of a two-mode dynamic model are calculated using both analytical and numerical methods. The results computed by different methods are in good agreement. In addition, the dependence of the bifurcation parameter and the period on all the relevant coefficients in the model is investigated in depth. © 2009 Taylor & Francis.