Application of the Laplace transform to nonlinear transient problems (Q808200)

The parabolic equation \(((1+\beta T)T_ x)_ x=T_ t\), \(0\leq x\leq 1\), \(t>0\), with boundary conditions of the third kind at \(x=0\) and \(x=1\) and with initial values given at \(t=0\), is symmetrically discretized in the space. The resulting system of ordinary differential equations is treated as follows. In the vicinity of an initial-guess the system is linearized, then Laplace transformed (the Laplace transform being calculated by solving a linear system of equations), and at last the Laplace transforms are inverted numerically. This process is iterated until an appropriate numerical convergence criterion is met. The applicability of the method is illustrated by three numerical examples.