An introduction to the stability of distributed systems via a liapunov functional

Liapunov's direct method is extended to determine the stability of distributed systems with single and multiple equilibrium profiles. The method is simple to apply and makes use of certain inequalities to establish the sign definiteness of the time derivative of the Liapunov functional. Two numerical examples are presented, the adiabatic catalyst particle and an empty adiabatic tubular reactor with axial diffusion.