A model for the hot slab ignition problem is analyzed to determine critical conditions based on the parameters of the system. Activation energy asymptotics, a singular perturbation approach, is applied to the governing equation resulting in a Volterra integral equation of the second kind whose solution represents the temperature perturbation at the surface of the hot slab. The system is said to be supercritical for given parameter values when the temperature perturbation blows up in small finite time, an indication of ignition, or subcritical when the blow up time is large, indicating that heat loss effects overcome the hot slab ignition mechanisms. Comparison principles for integral equations are used to construct upper and lower solutions of the equation. The exact solution as well as the upper and lower solutions depend on two parameters ε, the Zeldovich number a measure of the heat release and λ, the scaled hot slab size. Upper and lower bounds on the transition region, delineating the super-critical from the sub-critical region, are derived based upon the lower and upper solution behavior. The product integration method is used to compute solutions of the Volterra equation for values of ε and λ in the transition region. The computations indicate that a critical curve, λ(c) lying between the analytic bounds, exists.
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