jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pThermoacoustic systems can oscillate self-excitedly, and often non-periodically, owing to coupling between unsteady heat release and acoustic waves. We study a slot-stabilized two-dimensional premixed flame in a duct via numerical simulations of a jats:inline-formulajats:alternatives<jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" mime-subtype="gif" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="S0022112014006016_inline1" />jats:tex-math$G$</jats:tex-math></jats:alternatives></jats:inline-formula>-equation flame coupled with duct acoustics. We examine the bifurcations and routes to chaos for three control parameters: (i) the flame position in the duct, (ii) the length of the duct and (iii) the mean flow velocity. We observe period-1, period-2, quasi-periodic and chaotic oscillations. For certain parameter ranges, more than one stable state exists, so mode switching is possible. At intermediate times, the system is attracted to and repelled from unstable states, which are also identified. Two routes to chaos are established for this system: the period-doubling route and the Ruelle–Takens–Newhouse route. These are corroborated by analyses of the power spectra of the acoustic velocity. Instantaneous flame images reveal that the wrinkles on the flame surface and pinch-off of flame pockets are regular for periodic oscillations, while they are irregular and have multiple time and length scales for quasi-periodic and aperiodic oscillations. This study complements recent experiments by providing a reduced-order model of a system with approximately 5000 degrees of freedom that captures much of the elaborate nonlinear behaviour of ducted premixed flames observed in the laboratory.</jats:p>