Study of a pseudo-stationary state for a corrosion model: existence and numerical approximation (Q281997)

As a model for a corrosion process the authors consider a system of partial differential equations in one space dimension. More specifically, the vector of carrier densities \(U=\left(P\;N\;C\right)^{\top}\) satisfies the equation \(\epsilon\partial_{t}U-\partial_{x}^{2}U-z\left(\partial_{x}\Psi\partial_{x}U+\partial_{x}^{2}\Psi U\right)=0\), where the electric potential \(\Psi\) is controlled by a scalar semi-linear Poisson type equation. The system is completed by an initial condition and boundary conditions on a moving boundary controlled by separate non-linear dynamics. A numerical scheme is proposed as an approximate solution method. The numerical scheme is validated by comparison with real-life data. With general existence still an open problem, the paper concludes with a mathematical analysis of a steady state solution to a simplified version of the actual steady state system.