Laboratory experiments in which synthetic, partially molten rock is subjected to forced deformation provide a context for testing hypotheses about the dynamics and rheology of the mantle. Here our hypothesis is that the aggregate viscosity of partially molten mantle is anisotropic, and that this anisotropy arises from deviatoric stresses in the rock matrix. We formulate a model of pipe Poiseuille flow based on theory by Takei and Holtzman [2009a] and Takei and Katz [2013]. Pipe Poiseuille is a configuration that is accessible to laboratory experimentation but for which there are no published results. We analyse the model system through linearised analysis and numerical simulations. This analysis predicts two modes of melt segregation: migration of melt from the centre of the pipe toward the wall and localisation of melt into high-porosity bands that emerge near the wall, at a low angle to the shear plane. We compare our results to those of Takei and Katz [2013] for plane Poiseuille flow; we also describe a new approximation of radially varying anisotropy that improves the self-consistency of models over those of . This study provides a set of baseline, quantitative predictions to compare with future laboratory experiments on forced pipe Poiseuille flow of partially molten mantle.

A reaction–diffusion equation is studied in a time-dependent interval whose length varies with time. The reaction term is either linear or of KPP type. On a fixed interval, it is well known that if the length is less than a certain critical value then the solution tends to zero. When the domain length may vary with time, we prove conditions under which the solution does and does not converge to zero in long time. We show that, even with the length always strictly less than the ‘critical length’, either outcome may occur. Examples are given. The proof is based on upper and lower estimates for the solution, which are derived in this paper for a general time-dependent interval.

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A linear growth-diffusion equation is studied in a time-dependent interval whose location and length both vary. We prove conditions on the boundary motion for which the solution can be found in exact form, and derive the explicit expression in each case.Next we prove the precise behaviour near the boundary in a 'critical' case: when the endpoints of the interval move in such a way that near the boundary there is neither exponential growth nor decay, but the solution behaves like a power law with respect to time. The proof uses a subsolution based on the Airy function with argument depending on both space and time. Interesting links are observed between this result and Bramson's logarithmic term in the nonlinear FKPP equation on the real line.Each of the main theorems is extended to higher dimensions, with a corresponding result on a ball with time-dependent radius.

A linear growth-diffusion equation is studied in a time-dependent interval whose location and length both vary. We prove conditions on the boundary motion for which the solution can be found in exact form and derive the explicit expression in each case. Next, we prove the precise behaviour near the boundary in a ‘critical’ case: when the endpoints of the interval move in such a way that near the boundary there is neither exponential growth nor decay, but the solution behaves like a power law with respect to time. The proof uses a subsolution based on the Airy function with argument depending on both space and time. Interesting links are observed between this result and Bramson's logarithmic term in the nonlinear FKPP equation on the real line. Each of the main theorems is extended to higher dimensions, with a corresponding result on a ball with a time-dependent radius.