Convective porous medium equations with nonlinear forcing at the boundary (Q1363546)

This paper considers a class of porous medium type equations of the form \[ u_t=(u^m)_{xx}+\tfrac{\mu}{n}(u^n)^x \] on the cylinder \(\{0<x<1\), \(t>0\}\) with boundary data \[ -(u^m)_x=au^p \text{ at }x=0 \quad \text{and}\quad (u^m)_x=0 \text{ at }x=1. \] Here \(m\), \(n\), \(\mu\), \(a\), and \(p\) are positive parameters. Similar problems have been studied by many authors [for example, \textit{J. R. Anderson}, J. Differ. Equations 104, 361-385 and 386-408 (1993; Zbl 0787.35045 and Zbl 0787.35046) and \textit{J. S. Hu} and \textit{M. Wang}, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 197, 113-124 (1996; Zbl 0857.35070)]. Depending on the relations between \(m\), \(n\), and \(p\) (but not \(a\) or \(\mu\)), this problem either has a solution for all time or the solution becomes infinite in finite time. A crucial element of this result is that this behavior is also independent of the initial function, provided that this function is uniformly positive. The method of proof is based on the construction of appropriate subsolutions and supersolutions; the interesting part of this paper is the authors' complete description of the possible blow-up range for \(m\), \(n\), and \(p\) via a relatively small number of subsolutions and supersolutions.