The Riemann problem with delta initial data for a class of coupled hyperbolic systems of conservation laws

In this paper, we solve the Riemann problem with the initial data containing Dirac delta functions for a class of coupled hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. Under suitably generalized Rankine–Hugoniot relation and entropy condition, the existence and uniqueness of solutions involving delta shock waves are proved. Further, four kinds of different structure for solutions are established uniquely.     

Generalized Glimm scheme to the initial boundary value problem of hyperbolic systems of balance laws

In this paper we provide a generalized version of the Glimm scheme to establish the global existence of weak solutions to the initial-boundary value problem of 2×2 hyperbolic systems of conservation laws with source terms. We extend the methods in [J.B. Goodman, Initial boundary value problem for hyperbolic systems of conservation laws, Ph.D. Dissertation, Stanford University, 1982; J.M. Hong, An extension of Glimm’s method to inhomogeneous strictly hyperbolic systems of conservation laws by “weaker than weak” solutions of the Riemann problem, J. Differential Equations 222 (2006) 515-549] to construct the approximate solutions of Riemann and boundary Riemann problems, which can be adopted as the building block of approximate solutions for our initial-boundary value problem. By extending the results in [J. Glimm, Solutions in the large for nonlinear hyperbolic systems of equations, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 18 (1965) 697-715] and showing the weak convergence of residuals, we obtain stability and consistency of the scheme.     

Weakly Nonlinear Geometric Optics for Hyperbolic Systems of Conservation Laws

We present a new approach to analyze the validation of weakly nonlinear geometric optics for entropy solutions of nonlinear hyperbolic systems of conservation laws whose eigenvalues are allowed to have constant multiplicity and corresponding characteristic fields to be linearly degenerate. The approach is based on our careful construction of more accurate auxiliary approximation to weakly nonlinear geometric optics, the properties of wave front-tracking approximate solutions, the behavior of solutions to the approximate asymptotic equations, and the standard semigroup estimates. To illustrate this approach more clearly, we focus first on the Cauchy problem for the hyperbolic systems with compact support initial data of small bounded variation and establish that the L ¹-estimate between the entropy solution and the geometric optics expansion function is bounded by O(?²), independent of the time variable. This implies that the simpler geometric optics expansion functions can be employed to study the behavior of general entropy solutions to hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. Finally, we extend the results to the case with non-compact support initial data of bounded variation.     

Global entropy solutions to a class of quasi-linear wave equations with large time-oscillating sources

This research explores the Cauchy problem for a class of quasi-linear wave equations with time dependent sources. It can be transformed into the Cauchy problem of hyperbolic integro-differential systems of nonlinear balance laws. We introduce the generalized Glimm scheme in new version and study its stability which is proved by Glimm-type interaction estimates in a dissipativity assumption. The generalized solutions to the perturbed Riemann problems, the building blocks of generalized Glimm scheme, are constructed by Riemann problem method modeled on the source free equations. The global existence for the Lipschitz continuous solutions and weak solutions to the systems is established by the consistency of scheme and the weak convergence of source. Finally, the weak solutions are also the entropy solutions which satisfy the entropy inequality.     

On the interaction of δ-shocks and contact vacuum states

We study the pressureless gas equations, with piecewise constant initial data. In the immediate solution, δ-shocks and contact vacuum states arise and even meet (interact) eventually. A solution beyond the “interaction” is constructed. It shows that the δ-shock will continue with the velocity it attained instantaneously before the time of interaction, and similarly, the contact vacuum state will move past the δ-shock with a velocity value prior to the interaction. We call this the “no-effect-from-interaction” solution. We prove that this solution satisfies a family of convex entropies (in the Lax’s sense). Next, we construct an infinitely large family of weak solutions to the “interaction”. Suppose further that any of these solutions satisfy a convex entropy, it is necessary and suffcient that these solutions reduce to only the “no-effect-from-interaction” solution. In [1], Bouchut constructed another entropy satisfying solution. As with other previous papers, it is obvious that it will not be sufficient that a “correct” solution satisfies a convex entropy, in a non-strictly hyperbolic conservation laws system. Research done in the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, submission from Temasek Laboratories, National University of Singapore.     

Global structure instability of Riemann solutions of quasilinear hyperbolic systems of conservation laws: Rarefaction waves

This work is a continuation of our previous work (Kong, J. Differential Equations 188 (2003) 242-271) “Global structure stability of Riemann solutions of quasilinear hyperbolic systems of conservation laws: shocks and contact discontinuities”. In the present paper we prove the global structure instability of the Lax's Riemann solution , containing rarefaction waves, of general n×n quasilinear hyperbolic system of conservation laws. Combining the results in (Kong, 2003), we prove that the Lax's Riemann solution of general n×n quasilinear hyperbolic system of conservation laws is globally structurally stable if and only if it contains only non-degenerate shocks and contact discontinuities, but no rarefaction waves and other weak discontinuities.     

Global structure stability of Riemann solutions of quasilinear hyperbolic systems of conservation laws: shocks and contact discontinuities

In this paper, the author proves the global structure stability of the Lax's Riemann solution , containing only shocks and contact discontinuities, of general n×n quasilinear hyperbolic system of conservation laws. More precisely, the author proves the global existence and uniqueness of the piecewise C¹ solution u=u(t,x) of a class of generalized Riemann problem, which can be regarded as a perturbation of the corresponding Riemann problem, for the quasilinear hyperbolic system of conservation laws; moreover, this solution has a global structure similar to that of the solution . Combining the results in Kong (Global structure instability of Riemann solutions of quasilinear hyperbolic systems of conservation laws: rarefaction waves, to appear), the author proves that the Lax's Riemann solution of general n×n quasilinear hyperbolic system of conservation laws is globally structurally stable if and only if it contains only non-degenerate shocks and contact discontinuities, but no rarefaction waves and other weak discontinuities.     

Convergence of a relaxation scheme for hyperbolic systems of conservation laws

Summary. This paper concerns the study of a relaxation scheme for hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. In particular, with the compensated compactness techniques, we prove a rigorous result of convergence of the approximate solutions toward an entropy solution of the equilibrium system, as the relaxation time and the mesh size tend to zero. Received September 29, 1998 / Revised version received December 20, 1999 / Published online August 24, 2000     

Sharp decay estimates for hyperbolic balance laws

We consider strictly hyperbolic and genuinely nonlinear systems of hyperbolic balance laws in one-space dimension. Sharp decay estimates are derived for the positive waves in an entropy weak solution. The result is obtained by introducing a partial ordering within the family of positive Radon measures, using symmetric rearrangements and a comparison with a solution of Burgers's equation with impulsive sources as well as lower semicontinuity properties of continuous Glimm-type functionals.     

Stability of the Riemann solutions for a nonstrictly hyperbolic system of conservation laws

We prove that the Riemann solutions are stable for a nonstrictly hyperbolic system of conservation laws under local small perturbations of the Riemann initial data. The proof is based on the detailed analysis of the interactions of delta shock waves with shock waves and rarefaction waves. During the interaction process of the delta shock wave with the rarefaction wave, a new kind of nonclassical wave, namely a delta contact discontinuity, is discovered here, which is a Dirac delta function supported on a contact discontinuity and has already appeared in the interaction process for the magnetohydrodynamics equations [M. Nedeljkov and M. Oberguggenberger, Interactions of delta shock waves in a strictly hyperbolic system of conservation laws, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 344 (2008) 1143-1157]. Moreover, the global structures and large time asymptotic behaviors of the solutions are constructed and analyzed case by case.     

One-sided exact boundary null controllability of entropy solutions to a class of hyperbolic systems of conservation laws

In this paper, the one-sided exact boundary null controllability of entropy solutions is studied for a class of general strictly hyperbolic systems of conservation laws, whose negative (or positive) characteristic families are all linearly degenerate. The authors first prove the well-posedness of semi-global solutions constructed as the limit of ε-approximate front tracking solutions to the mixed initial-boundary value problem with general nonlinear boundary conditions and they establish various properties of both the ε-approximate front tracking solutions and such solutions. By means of essential modifications of the strategy suggested by the first author in [17] originally for the local exact boundary controllability in the framework of classical solutions, the one-sided local exact boundary null controllability of entropy solutions can then be realized via boundary controls acting on one side of the boundary, where the incoming characteristics are all linearly degenerate.     

Discrete approximations of BV solutions to doubly nonlinear degenerate parabolic equations

Summary. In this paper we present and analyse certain discrete approximations of solutions to scalar, doubly nonlinear degenerate, parabolic problems of the form under the very general structural condition . To mention only a few examples: the heat equation, the porous medium equation, the two-phase flow equation, hyperbolic conservation laws and equations arising from the theory of non-Newtonian fluids are all special cases of (P). Since the diffusion terms a(s) and b(s) are allowed to degenerate on intervals, shock waves will in general appear in the solutions of (P). Furthermore, weak solutions are not uniquely determined by their data. For these reasons we work within the framework of weak solutions that are of bounded variation (in space and time) and, in addition, satisfy an entropy condition. The well-posedness of the Cauchy problem (P) in this class of so-called BV entropy weak solutions follows from a work of Yin [18]. The discrete approximations are shown to converge to the unique BV entropy weak solution of (P). Received November 10, 1998 / Revised version received June 10, 1999 / Published online June 8, 2000     

Double shocks for a hydrodynamic model of semiconductors

This paper is devoted to the study of a hydrodynamic model of drift diffusion equations. We establish the existence of a kind of discontinuous solution which consists of two multidimensional shocks. Since the system is a hyperbolic elliptic coupled one, the proof is different from that of double shocks from conservation laws in [11].      

Vanishing viscosity with short wave-long wave interactions for multi-D scalar conservation laws

We consider a system coupling a multidimensional semilinear Schrödinger equation and a multidimensional nonlinear scalar conservation law with viscosity, which is motivated by a model of short wave-long wave interaction introduced by Benney (1977). We prove the global existence and uniqueness of the solution of the Cauchy problem for this system. We also prove the convergence of the whole sequence of solutions when the viscosity ε and the interaction parameter α approach zero so that α=o(ε1/2). We also indicate how to extend these results to more general systems which couple multidimensional semilinear systems of Schrödinger equations with multidimensional nonlinear systems of scalar conservation laws mildly coupled.     

A geometric approach to error estimates for conservation laws posed on a spacetime

We consider a hyperbolic conservation law posed on an (N+1)-dimensional spacetime, whose flux is a field of differential forms of degree N. Generalizing the classical Kuznetsov’s method, we derive an L¹ error estimate which applies to a large class of approximate solutions. In particular, we apply our main theorem and deal with two entropy solutions associated with distinct flux fields, as well as with an entropy solution and an approximate solution. Our framework encompasses, for instance, equations posed on a globally hyperbolic Lorentzian manifold.     

One-Sided Exact Boundary Null Controllability of Entropy Solutions to a Class of Hyperbolic Systems of Conservation Laws with Characteristics with Constant Multiplicity

This paper proves the local exact one-sided boundary null controllability of entropy solutions to a class of hyperbolic systems of conservation laws with characteristics with constant multiplicity. This generalizes the results in [Li, T. and Yu, L., One-sided exact boundary null controllability of entropy solutions to a class of hyperbolic systems of conservation laws, To appear in Journal de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées, 2016.] for a class of strictly hyperbolic systems of conservation laws.     

Construction of Approximate Entropy Measure-Valued Solutions for Hyperbolic Systems of Conservation Laws

Entropy solutions have been widely accepted as the suitable solution framework for systems of conservation laws in several space dimensions. However, recent results in De Lellis and Székelyhidi Jr (Ann Math 170(3):1417–1436, 2009) and Chiodaroli et al. (2013) have demonstrated that entropy solutions may not be unique. In this paper, we present numerical evidence that state-of-the-art numerical schemes need not converge to an entropy solution of systems of conservation laws as the mesh is refined. Combining these two facts, we argue that entropy solutions may not be suitable as a solution framework for systems of conservation laws, particularly in several space dimensions. We advocate entropy measure-valued solutions, first proposed by DiPerna, as the appropriate solution paradigm for systems of conservation laws. To this end, we present a detailed numerical procedure which constructs stable approximations to entropy measure-valued solutions, and provide sufficient conditions that guarantee that these approximations converge to an entropy measure-valued solution as the mesh is refined, thus providing a viable numerical framework for systems of conservation laws in several space dimensions. A large number of numerical experiments that illustrate the proposed paradigm are presented and are utilized to examine several interesting properties of the computed entropy measure-valued solutions.     

Stochastic conservation laws: Weak-in-time formulation and strong entropy condition

This article is an attempt to complement some recent developments on conservation laws with stochastic forcing. In a pioneering development, Feng and Nualart [8] have developed the entropy solution theory for such problems and the presence of stochastic forcing necessitates introduction of strong entropy condition. However, the authors' formulation of entropy inequalities are weak-in-space but strong-in-time. In the absence of a priori path continuity for the solutions, we take a critical outlook towards this formulation and offer an entropy formulation which is weak-in-time and weak-in-space.     

Global structure of Riemann solutions to a system of two-dimensional hyperbolic conservation laws

The Riemann problem for a two-dimensional nonstrictly hyperbolic system of conservation laws is considered. Without the restriction that each jump of the initial data projects one planar elementary wave, ten topologically distinct solutions are obtained by applying the method of generalized characteristic analysis. Some of these solutions involve the nonclassical waves, i.e., the delta shock wave and the delta contact discontinuity, for which we explicitly give the expressions of their strengths, locations and propagation speeds. Moreover, we demonstrate that the nature of our solutions is identical with that of solutions to the corresponding one-dimensional Cauchy problem, which provides a verification that our construction produces the correct unique global solutions.     

Entropy formulation for fractal conservation laws

Using an integral formula of Droniou and Imbert (2005) for the fractional Laplacian, we define an entropy formulation for fractal conservation laws with pure fractional diffusion of order λ ∈]0, 1]. This allows to show the existence and the uniqueness of a solution in the L^∞ framework. We also establish a result of controled speed of propagation that generalizes the finite propagation speed result of scalar conservation laws. We finally let the non-local term vanish to approximate solutions of scalar conservation laws, with optimal error estimates for BV initial conditions as Kuznecov (1976) for λ = 2 and Droniou (2003) for λ ∈]1, 2].