Turbulent pattern in the 1,4-cyclohexanedione Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction

Abstract

Chemical turbulence was observed experimentally in the 1,4-cyclohexanedione Belousov–Zhabotinsky (CHD-BZ) reaction in a double layer consisting of a catalyst-loaded gel and uncatalyzed liquid on a Petri dish. The chemical patterns in the CHD-BZ reaction occur spontaneously in various forms as follows: the initial, regular, transient, and turbulent patterns, subsequently. These four patterns are characterized by using the two-dimensional Fourier transform (2D-FT). Mechanism of the onset of the turbulence in the CHD-BZ reaction is proposed. Turbulence in the CHD-BZ reaction is reproducible under a well defined protocol and it exists for a period of time of about 50 minutes, which is sufficiently long to offer a good opportunity to study and control the turbulence in the future. Two models of the BZ reaction were used to simulate the spiral breakup. Both are capable of producing spiral turbulence from initially regular patterns in each layer and reflect certain features of dynamics observed in experiments.