First integrals and bifurcations of a Lane–Emden equation of the second kind

First integrals admitted by an approximate Lane–Emden equation modelling a thermal explosion in a rectangular slab and cylindrical vessel are investigated. By imposing the boundary conditions on the first integrals we obtain a nonlinear relationship between the temperature at the center of the vessel and the temperature gradient at the wall of the vessel. For a rectangular slab the presence of a bifurcation indicates multivalued solutions for the temperature at the center of the vessel when the temperature gradient at the wall is fixed. For a cylindrical vessel we find a bifurcation indicating multivalued solutions for the temperature gradient at the walls of the vessel when the temperature at the center of the vessel is fixed. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.