TY  - JOUR
T1  - Numerical Investigation of Thermal Stability in Media of
Different Physical Geometries
AU - Lebelo, R.S. AU - Mabuza, B.R. 
JO  - Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
VL  - 12
IS  - 24
SP  - 7555
EP  - 7561
PY  - 2017
DA  - 2001/08/19
SN  - 1816-949x
DO  - jeasci.2017.7555.7561
UR  - https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=jeasci.2017.7555.7561
KW  - Thermal stability
KW  -reactive slab
KW  -reactive cylinder
KW  -reactive sphere
KW  -Runge-kutta Fehlberg method
KW  -embedded
AB  - Spontaneous combustion in stockpiles of combustible materials is due to exothermic chemical
reaction taking place within the system, where the trapped oxygen reacts automatically with the material
containing carbon or hydrocarbons. The chemical reaction results with heat as one of the products. Should the
rate of heat production exceed that of heat release to the ambient, the system’s temperature increases rapidly
and may lead to thermal runaway that ultimately causes self-ignition. In this study, effects of kinetic parameters
such as activation energy and rate of reaction on the temperature of the system are investigated. These
parameters are embedded on the differential equation governing the problem. The combustion reaction results
with complicated reaction mechanism that is nonlinear and as a result the nonlinear differential equation is
tackled using numerical methods. Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg (RKF45) method coupled with shooting technique is
used to solve the equation with the help of Maple Software.
ER  -