Nonlinear heat conduction through an externally heated radiant plasma: Background analysis for a numerical study (Q1125296)

The authors discuss a family of nonlinear parabolic problems of heat conduction through a radiant plasma. They consider equations of the form \[ (C_1+ C_2 T^3){\partial T\over\partial t}= {\partial\over\partial x} \Biggl(\rho(x) K(T){\partial T\over\partial x}\Biggr)+ w(t) \] for \(0< x<l\) and \(0< t\leq T^*\), where \(C_1\geq 0\), \(C_2\geq 0\), \(C_1+ C_2>0\), \(\rho(x)\) is the density of the material, \(T(x,t)\) is the process temperature, and \(w(t)\) is the source. An initial profile \(T_0(x)\) is prescribed, as well as time-dependent boundary data of Dirichlet, Neumann, or flux type. The number of local maxima, Lie symmetries, and similarity solutions are established.