The one-phase supercooled Stefan problem with a convective boundary condition (Q3129306)

The one-phase Stefan problem for a supercooled liquid (e.g. water) is considered in one space dimension. The problem is described by the heat conduction equation \(\theta_t = \theta_{xx}\) in the space-time domain \(D_T=\{(x,t): 0 <x < r(t), \;0 < t < T\}\). Together with \(\theta = 0\) the classical Stefan condition is given on the free boundary \(x=r(t)\). The initial conditions are described by a function \(\varphi(x)\) for the temperature \(\theta\) and \(r(0)=1\). At the fixed face \(x=0\), the authors consider a Robin boundary condition of the form \(\theta_x = \beta \;(\theta - g(t))\). \noindent The authors establish relations between \(\varphi\), \(g\), \(\beta\) (in particular, the quantity \(Q(t) = 1 + \beta / 2 + \int_0^1 (1 + \beta \;x) \;\varphi \;dx + \int_0^t \beta \;g \;dt'\)) and the occurence of the following three cases characterizing the behaviour of the solution: (a) The problem has a solution for arbitrary \(T>0\), (b) there exists a stopping time \(T>0\) with \(\lim_{t \to T} r(t) =0\) and (c) 'blow up' in finite time \(T>0\). Basic tools in the investigations are comparison principles and integral representations for the temperature \(\theta\) and the free boundary \(r(t)\). As a special case the authors consider the oxygen-consumption problem.