AbstractThis work examines reaction‐induced flow maldistributions in adiabatic, downflow packed beds. Using linear stability analysis it is shown that for the case of a constant heat source, the uniform flow loses stability when a certain dimensionless group, the Darcy buoyancy number, exceeds a critical value. Center manifold theory is used to analyze the local bifurcation picture for the case of a simple and double zero eigenvalue. It is found that for large Peclet numbers, all the bifurcations from the uniform solution are subcritical in nature and are unstable locally. Orthogonal collocation and continuation techniques are combined with the local theory to determine the various branches of bifurcating solutions. The temperature and flow distributions of stable and unstable solution branches are presented for several aspect ratios and Peclet numbers. Numerical simulations predict direct transitions from uniform flow to periodic or chaotic flows. It is also found that there is a wide range of the Darcy buoyancy number in which the uniform and maldistributed flows are stable and coexist.