Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / ii / Paper 3 / 13C / Solution

Fick's first law gives the diffusive fluxLocal conservation says $C_t+\nabla \cdot \mathbf{J}=0$, and therefore

For $D(C)=kC$, conservation of the deposited amount requiresThe dimensions satisfy $[M]=[C]L^2$ and $[k]=L^2/([C]T)$. Thus $Mkt$ has dimension $L^4$, so the similarity length is $(Mkt{)}^{1/4}$. Requiring the concentration scale to have dimension $[C]$ givesHence

In polar coordinates, substitution into
$C_t=k{r}^{-1}(rC{C}_r{)}_r$ givesMultiplying by $\xi$ and integrating once, with regularity and zero radial flux at the origin, yieldsWhere $F>0$, this reduces to $F^{\prime }=-\xi /4$, soNonnegativity and zero flux at the moving front give the compactly supported profileThe normalization givesand hence $A=1/\sqrt{2}$ and ${\xi }_0^4=32$. This is the Two-dimensional Barenblatt solution with diffusivity proportional to concentration, and its support radius isso $N=32$.

Now add the linear reaction term and writeSubstitution cancels the terms $aC$ and leavesChoosingproduces $G_{\tau }=k\nabla \cdot (G\nabla G)$, as in the linear-reaction time change for quadratic nonlinear diffusion. Therefore

For $a=0$, the front grows like $t^{1/4}$ while the central concentration decays like $t^{-1/2}$. For $a>0$, $\tau \sim e^{at}/a$, so the front grows like $e^{at/4}$ and the central concentration like $e^{at/2}$. For $a<0$, $\tau \to 1/|a|$: the front approaches a finite limiting radius while the concentration decays exponentially to zero.

Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.