On exact solutions of a heat-wave type with logarithmic front for the porous medium equation

Abstract

The paper deals with a nonlinear second-order parabolic equation with partial derivatives, which is usually called “the porous medium equation”. It describes the processes of heat and mass transfer as well as filtration of liquids and gases in porous media. In addition, it is used for mathematical modeling of growth and migration of population. Usually this equation is studied numerically like most other nonlinear equations of mathematical physics. So, the construction of exact solution in an explicit form is important to verify the numerical algorithms. The authors deal with a special solutions which are usually called “heat waves”. A new class of heat-wave type solutions of one-dimensional (plane-symmetric) porous medium equation is proposed and analyzed. A logarithmic heat wave front is studied in details. Considered equation has a singularity at the heat wave front, because the factor of the highest (second) derivative vanishes. The construction of these exact solutions reduces to the integration of a nonlinear second-order ordinary differential equation (ODE). Moreover, the Cauchy conditions lead us to the fact that this equation has a singularity at the initial point. In other words, the ODE inherits the singularity of the original problem. The qualitative analysis of the solutions of the ODE is carried out. The obtained results are interpreted from the point of view of the corresponding heat waves’ behavior. The most interesting is a damped solitary wave, the length of which is constant, and the amplitude decreases.