Hopscotch method: The numerical solution of the Frank-Kamenetskii partial differential equation

Numerical solutions to the Frank-Kamenetskii partial differential equation modelling a thermal explosion in a cylindrical vessel are obtained using the hopscotch scheme. We observe that a nonlinear source term in the equation leads to numerical difficulty and hence adjust the scheme to accommodate such a term. Numerical solutions obtained via MATLAB, MATHEMATICA and the Crank-Nicolson implicit scheme are employed as a means of comparison. To gain insight into the accuracy of the hopscotch scheme the solution is compared to a power series solution obtained via the Lie group method. The numerical solution is also observed to converge to a well-known steady state solution. A linear stability analysis is performed to validate the stability of the results obtained. © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.