Various physically based models are available to describe an uneven distribution of the filter cake on the filter area of jet-pulsed bag filters. Such an uneven distribution is intrinsically present, when only segments of the filter are cleaned at a time but not the entire filter. Moreover, also patchy cleaning causes an uneven filter cake loading, since only a fraction of a filter cake is removed by a jet pulse while the other fraction remains basically intact on the filter cloth. Unstable filter operation can be defined by a continuous or periodic reduction of the filtration time per cleaning pulse. The operation of a jet-pulsed filter was mathematically simulated and, by systematically altering model parameters, unstable operation was obtained. Three situations were investigated: a continuous increase of the filter cake resistance parameter, a continuous increase of the filter cloth resistance parameter, and a particular cake detachment function where, after a filter cake survived some filter cycles, it can hardly be removed. The transient pressure difference simulation results reveal characteristic patterns: Taking normal stable operation as a reference, an increase of the filter cake resistance leads to shorter filtration and somewhat longer cleaning intervals (i.e., more cleaning pulses). An increase of the filter cloth resistance causes longer filtration and also considerably more cleaning pulses. Deficient filter cleaning gives shorter filtration periods and extremely long cleaning intervals. A comparison between model simulations and pilot plant results shows that there, the experimentally observed unstable operation can most likely be attributed to problems with cake detachment. Hence appropriate measures for avoiding unstable operation were successfully introduced. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.