Worksheet PX275 Mathematical Methods

Anne-Marie Broomhall Due: Jan 31, 2023

1 Partial Differential Equations [25 marks]

Problem 1.
Consider a thin tube of length L, oriented along the x-axis. The tube is sealed at both ends. A
finite amount of dye molecules is injected just inside this tube near one of its ends. You should
assume that the concentration of dye molecules c(x, t) obeys the 1D diffusion equation given by

∂c ∂ 2c
= D 2.
∂t ∂x

(a) Consider Fick’s law and show that the following are appropriate boundary conditions
 
∂c  ∂c 
=0 = 0.
∂x x=0 ∂x x=L
[2 marks]

(b) If the local injection of dye at position x0 (close to origin end of tube at x=0) and t = 0
can be described by αδ(x − x0 ), determine the value of α in terms of the total number of
molecules N .
[3 marks]

(c) Use the separation of variables method, to show that the a solution to the diffusion equa-
tion for a tube of length L can be written as

∞ 
X nπx nπx  −D( nπ 2
L ) .
t
c(x, t) = A0 x + B0 + An cos + Bn sin e
n=1
L L

[5 marks]

(d) Now consider the boundary conditions noted in a) together with the initial dye injection
constraints, and use these to determine the coefficients and thus the solution for c(x, t).
[5 marks]

Worksheet PX275 Mathematical Methods 1 of 2

Problem 2.
Consider an isolated, uniform bar of length L and with constant thermal diffusivity κ. The
temperature profile of the bar T (x, t) obeys the heat equation

∂T (x, t) ∂ 2 T (x, t)
=κ .
∂t ∂x2

(a) State the expected expression for T (x, t) for the isolated, uniform bar.
[hint: this should not need a full derivation] [2 marks]

(b) How would this solution simplify under the boundary conditions

∂T 

∂T 
∂x x=0
= ∂x x=L
=G and T (0, 0) = T0

with G, T0 positive real constants.

[3 marks]

Problem 3.
Consider Laplace’s equation

∂2 ∂2
∇2 φ(x, y) = 0 where ∇2 = ∂x2
+ ∂y 2
.
Show, using the method of separation of variables (and not direct substitution), that solutions
inside a square box with sides of length L can have the following forms:

φ = (Ao x + Bo ) (Co y + Do )

X nπx nπx   nπy nπy 

φ= An cosh + Bn sinh Cn cos + Dn sin
n
L L L L

X nπx nπx   nπy nπy 

φ= An cos + Bn sin Cn cosh + Dn sinh
n
L L L L

[Hint: use Aekx + Be−kx = A+B

2
cosh kx + A−B
2
sinh kx = A0 cosh kx + B 0 sinh kx ]
[5 marks]

Worksheet PX275 Mathematical Methods 2 of 2