Through examples in a free-boundary model of solid combustion, this study concerns nonlinear transition behavior of small disturbances of front propagation and temperature as they evolve in time. This includes complex dynamics of period doubling, and quadrupling, and it eventually leads to chaotic oscillations. Within this complex dynamic domain we also observe a period six-folding. Both asymptotic and numerical solutions are studied.We show that for special parameters our asymptotic method with some dominant modes captures the formation of coherent structures. Finally,we discuss possible methods to improve our prediction of the solutions in the chaotic case. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity, 2009#R##N##R##N#This article was submitted as an invited paper at the Understanding Complex Systems conference held at the University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, May 2007.
['Jun Yu', 'L. K. Gross', 'Christopher M. Danforth']
Complex dynamic behavior during transition in a solid combustion model