Parameter-dependent systems on the half-line and free convection boundary-layers in porous media

In this paper we use a recently elaborated abstract method, for parameter-dependent ODE systems over the interval (0, ∞), to obtain existence results for the problem of self-similar solutions in boundary-layer free convection in porous media. Using a generalization of the method to exponentially decaying solutions, we are able to recover some known results, and to obtain a new branch of solutions in the case of the so-called backward boundary-layer. The arguments involve the derivation of suitable a priori estimates for the solutions of the problem.