  We model the star formation history (SFH) and the chemical evolution of the
Galactic disk by combining an infall model and a limit-cycle model of the
interstellar medium (ISM). Recent observations have shown that the SFH of the
Galactic disk violently variates or oscillates. We model the oscillatory SFH
based on the limit-cycle behavior of the fractional masses of three components
of the ISM. The observed period of the oscillation ($\sim 1$ Gyr) is reproduced
within the natural parameter range. This means that we can interpret the
oscillatory SFH as the limit-cycle behavior of the ISM. We then test the
chemical evolution of stars and gas in the framework of the limit-cycle model,
since the oscillatory behavior of the SFH may cause an oscillatory evolution of
the metallicity. We find however that the oscillatory behavior of metallicity
is not prominent because the metallicity reflects the past integrated SFH. This
indicates that the metallicity cannot be used to distinguish an oscillatory SFH
from one without oscillations.

Astrophysics