Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2009
A model for thermal ignition by intense light is studied. The governing non-linear parabolic equation is linearized in a two-step manner with the aid of a non-linear ordinary differential equation which captures the salient features of the non-linear parabolic equation. The critical parameters are computed from the steady-state solution of the ordinary differential equation, which can be obtained without actually solving the equation. Comparison with available data shows that the present method yields good results.