Two methods for assessing the effects of forced periodic catalytic reactor operation are presented. The vibrational control method is an analytical technique which evaluates the effects of high frequency forcing of system parameters by the method of averaging. The second technique is a numerical tool based on a shooting algorithm. These methods are capable of handling multiple input forcing and various shapes of forcing functions. Both methods are applied to isothermal, adiabatic and nonadiabatic operation of an internal recycle reactor in which the catalytic oxidation of ethylene takes place. The basic features of both techniques are discussed and the results obtained by using these methods are compared. Effects of single and multiple input parameter forcing are investigated. Experimental verification of the theoretical results is also performed for the isothermal case.