Some moving boundary problems for a generalised diffusion equation (Q1068647)

Diffusion controlled growth of planar, cylindrical or spherical particles is considered where the composition satisfies a generalised diffusion equation. Asymptotic methods are used to determine composition gradients near the growing particles in the cases of ''fast'' or ''slow'' growth. It is shown that in these limits under certain conditions a constant average diffusion coefficient can be defined for which the growth rate calculated from the differential equation with this constant diffusion coefficient agrees with that with the full variable coefficient. Similar considerations are also made of the case of composition dependent diffusion and bulk flow for growing spherical particles.