Nonlinear analysis of a network of three continuous stirred tank reactors with periodic feed switching: Symmetry and symmetry-breaking

The spatiotemporal symmetry properties of a periodically forced network of three continuous stirred tank reactors are assessed. The symmetry is induced to the system by a cyclic switching of the feed and discharge positions. The symmetry properties imply that the Poincare map is the third iterate of another non-stroboscopic map. This feature is here used to characterize the symmetry of the regime solns., and to carry out bifurcation anal. Possible bifurcation scenarios and, in particular, symmetry-breaking bifurcations are discussed. As the switch time is varied, different transitions were identified: among the others, an important role in the birth of asym. regimes is played by frequency-locking phenomena. In addn., different routes to chaotic regimes (both sym. and asym.) are reported.