Pattern formation and evolution near autocatalytic reaction fronts in a narrow vertical slab

Convective Instability of Autocatalytic Reaction Fronts in Vertical Cylinders

Dispersion curves in the diffusional instability of autocatalytic reaction fronts.

A (linear) stability analysis of planar reaction fronts to transverse perturbations is considered for systems based on cubic autocatalysis and a model for the chlorite-tetrathionate reaction. Dispersion curves (plots of the growth rate sigma against a transverse wave-number k) are obtained. In both cases it is seen that there is a nonzero value D0 of D (the ratio of the diffusion coefficients o...

Linear stability analysis of convective chemical fronts in a vertical slab

Pattern formation by interacting chemical fronts.

Experiments on a bistable chemical reaction in a continuously fed thin gel layer reveal a new type of spatiotemporal pattern, one in which fronts propagate at a constant speed until they reach a critical separation (typically 0.4 millimeter) and stop. The resulting asymptotic state is a highly irregular stationary pattern that contrasts with the regular patterns such as hexagons, squares, and s...

Convective instabilities of chemical fronts in close-packed porous media

Spatiotemporal pattern formation in the autocatalytic chlorite–tetrathionate reaction is studied experimentally in porous media where heterogeneities are introduced as glass beads packed in a monolayer. From initially vertical planar chemical fronts in a vertical slab, asymmetric convective structures with stable geometry evolve which propagate horizontally with constant speed. The single conve...