A Global Solution to a Two-dimensional Riemann Problem Involving Shocks as Free Boundaries

We present a global solution to a Riemann problem for the pressure gradient system of equations.The Riemann problem has initially two shock waves and two contact discontinuities. The angle between the two shock waves is set initially to be close to 180 degrees. The solution has a shock wave that is usually regarded as a free boundary in the self-similar variable plane. Our main contribution in methodology is handling the tangential oblique derivative boundary values.     

Mach configuration in pseudo-stationary compressible flow

This paper is devoted to studying the local structure of Mach reflection, which occurs in the problem of the shock front hitting a ramp. The compressible flow is described by the full unsteady Euler system of gas dynamics. Because of the special geometry, the motion of the fluid can be described by self-similar coordinates, so that the unsteady flow becomes a pseudo-stationary flow in this coordinate system. When the slope of the ramp is less than a critical value, the Mach reflection occurs. The wave configuration in Mach reflection is composed of three shock fronts and a slip line bearing contact discontinuity. The local existence of a flow field with such a configuration under some assumptions is proved in this paper. Our result confirms the reasonableness of the corresponding physical observations and numerical computations in Mach reflection.

In order to prove the result, we formulate the problem to a free boundary value problem of a pseudo-stationary Euler system. In this problem two unknown shock fronts are the free boundary, and the slip line is also an unknown curve inside the flow field. The proof contains some crucial ingredients. The slip line will be transformed to a fixed straight line by a generalized Lagrange transformation. The whole free boundary value problem will be decomposed to a fixed boundary value problem of the Euler system and a problem to updating the location of the shock front. The Euler system in the subsonic region is an elliptic-hyperbolic composite system, which will be decoupled to the elliptic part and the hyperbolic part at the level of principal parts. Then some sophisticated estimates and a suitable iterative scheme are established. The proof leads to the existence and stability of the local structure of Mach reflection.

     

Riemann boundary value problems and reflection of shock for the Chaplygin gas

In this paper,we study two-dimensional Riemann boundary value problems of Euler system for the isentropic and irrotational Chaplygin gas with initial data being two constant states given in two sectors respectively,where one sector is a quadrant and the other one has an acute vertex angle.We prove that the Riemann boundary value problem admits a global self-similar solution,if either the initial states are close,or the smaller sector is also near a quadrant.Our result can be applied to solving the problem of shock reflection by a ramp.     

Vanishing pressure limits of Riemann solutions to the isentropic relativistic Euler system for Chaplygin gas

The Riemann solutions to the isentropic relativistic Euler system for Chaplygin gas with a small parameter are considered. Unlike the polytropic or barotropic gas cases, we find that firstly, as the parameter decreases to a certain critical number, the two-shock solution converges to a delta shock wave solution of the same system. Moreover, as the parameter goes to zero, that is, the pressure vanishes, the solution is nothing but the delta shock wave solution to the zero-pressure relativistic Euler system. Meanwhile, the two-rarefaction wave solution tends to the vacuum solution to the zero-pressure relativistic system, and the solution containing one rarefaction wave and one shock wave tends to the contact discontinuity solution to the zero-pressure relativistic system as pressure vanishes.     

Stability of a Mach configuration

We prove the stability of a Mach configuration, which occurs in shock reflection off an obstacle or shock interaction in compressible flow. The compressible flow is described by a full, steady Euler system of gas dynamics. The unperturbed Mach configuration is composed of three straight shock lines and a slip line carrying contact discontinuity. Among four regions divided by these four lines in the neighborhood of the intersection, two are supersonic regions, and other two are subsonic regions. We prove that if the constant states in the supersonic regions are slightly perturbed, then the structure of the whole configuration holds, while the other two shock fronts and the slip line, as well as the flow field in the subsonic regions, are also slightly perturbed. Such a conclusion asserts the existence and stability of the general Mach configuration in shock theory. In order to prove the result, we reduce the problem to a free boundary value problem, where two unknown shock fronts are free boundaries, while the slip line is transformed to a fixed line by a Lagrange transformation. In the region where the solution is to be determined, we have to deal with an elliptic‐hyperbolic composed system. By decoupling this system and combining the technique for both hyperbolic equations and elliptic equations, we establish the required estimates, which are crucial in the proof of the existence of a solution to the free boundary value problem. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Relaxation approximation of the Euler equations

The aim of this paper is to show how solutions to the one-dimensional compressible Euler equations can be approximated by solutions to an enlarged hyperbolic system with a strong relaxation term. The enlarged hyperbolic system is linearly degenerate and is therefore suitable to build an efficient approximate Riemann solver. From a theoretical point of view, the convergence of solutions to the enlarged system towards solutions to the Euler equations is proved for local in time smooth solutions. We also show that arbitrarily large shock waves for the Euler equations admit smooth shock profiles for the enlarged relaxation system. In the end, we illustrate these results of convergence by proposing a numerical procedure to solve the enlarged hyperbolic system. We test it on various cases.     

The inviscid limit for an inflow problem of compressible viscous gas in presence of both shocks and boundary layers

In this paper, we study the inviscid limit problem for the Navier-Stokes equations of one-dimensional compressible viscous gas on half plane. We prove that if the solution of the inviscid Euler system on half plane is piecewise smooth with a single shock satisfying the entropy condition, then there exist solutions to Navier-Stokes equations which converge to the inviscid solution away from the shock discontinuity and the boundary at an optimal rate of ε¹ as the viscosity ε tends to zero.     

ZERO DISSIPATION LIMIT OF THE COMPRESSIBLE HEAT-CONDUCTING NAVIER-STOKES EQUATIONS IN HE PRESENCE OF THE SHOCK

The zero dissipation limit of the compressible heat-conducting Navier-Stokes equations in the presence of the shock is investigated. It is shown that when the heat ε→ 0 (see (1.3)), if the solution of the corresponding Euler equations is piecewise smooth with shock wave satisfying the Lax entropy condition, then there exists a smooth solution to the Navier-Stokes equations, which converges to the piecewise smooth shock solution of the Euler equations away from the shock discontinuity at a rate of ε. The proof is given by a combination of the energy estimates and the matched asymptotic analysis introduced in [3].     

Delta Shocks and Vacuum States in Vanishing Pressure Limits of Solutions to the Relativistic Euler Equations

The Riemann problems for the Euler system of conservation laws of energy and momentum in special relativity as pressure vanishes are considered. The Riemann solutions for the pressureless relativistic Euler equations are obtained constructively. There are two kinds of solutions, the one involves delta shock wave and the other involves vacuum. The authors prove that these two kinds of solutions are the limits of the solutions as pressure vanishes in the Euler system of conservation laws of energy and momentum in special relativity.     

Global existence of shock front solutions in 1-dimensional piston problem in the relativistic Euler equations

The paper studies the 1-D piston problem of the relativistic Euler equations when the speed of the piston is a perturbation of a constant. A sequence of approximate solutions constructed by a modified Glimm scheme is proved to be convergent to the weak solution (which includes a strong leading shock) to the piston problem. In particular, we give the precise estimates on the reflection of the perturbed waves on the piston and the leading shock.     

Stability of steady multi-wave configurations for the full Euler equations of compressible fluid flow

We are concerned with the stability of steady multi-wave configurations for the full Euler equations of compressible fluid flow. In this paper, we focus on the stability of steady four-wave configurations that are the solutions of the Riemann problem in the flow direction, consisting of two shocks, one vortex sheet, and one entropy wave, which is one of the core multi-wave configurations for the two-dimensional Euler equations. It is proved that such steady four-wave configurations in supersonic flow are stable in structure globally, even under the BV perturbation of the incoming flow in the flow direction. In order to achieve this, we first formulate the problem as the Cauchy problem (initial value problem) in the flow direction, and then develop a modified Glimm difference scheme and identify a Glimm-type functional to obtain the required BV estimates by tracing the interactions not only between the strong shocks and weak waves, but also between the strong vortex sheet/entropy wave and weak waves. The key feature of the Euler equations is that the reflection coefficient is always less than $1$, when a weak wave of different family interacts with the strong vortex sheet/entropy wave or the shock wave, which is crucial to guarantee that the Glimm functional is decreasing. Then these estimates are employed to establish the convergence of the approximate solutions to a global entropy solution, close to the background solution of steady four-wave configuration.     

Transonic nozzle flows and free boundary problems for the full Euler equations

We establish the existence and uniqueness of transonic flows with a transonic shock through a two-dimensional nozzle of slowly varying cross-sections. The transonic flow is governed by the steady, full Euler equations. Given an incoming smooth flow that is close to a constant supersonic state (i.e., smooth Cauchy data) at the entrance and the subsonic condition with nearly horizontal velocity at the exit of the nozzle, we prove that there exists a transonic flow whose downstream smooth subsonic region is separated by a smooth transonic shock from the upstream supersonic flow. This problem is approached by a one-phase free boundary problem in which the transonic shock is formulated as a free boundary. The full Euler equations are decomposed into an elliptic equation and a system of transport equations for the free boundary problem. An iteration scheme is developed and its fixed point is shown to exist, which is a solution of the free boundary problem, by combining some delicate estimates for the elliptic equation and the system of transport equations with the Schauder fixed point argument. The uniqueness of transonic nozzle flows is also established by employing the coordinate transformation of Euler-Lagrange type and detailed estimates of the solutions.     

Steady Compressible Euler Equations of Concentration Layers for Hypersonic-limit Flows Passing Three-dimensional Bodies and Generalized Newton-Busemann Pressure Law*

For stationary hypersonic-limit Euler flows passing a solid body in three-dimensional space, the shock-front coincides with the upwind surface of the body, hence there is an infinite-thin layer of concentrated mass, in which all particles hitting the body move along its upwind surface. By proposing a concept of Radon measure solutions of boundary value problems of the multi-dimensional compressible Euler equations, which incorporates the large-scale of three-dimensional distributions of upcoming hypersonic flows and the small-scale of particles moving on two-dimensional surfaces, the authors derive the compressible Euler equations for flows in concentration layers, which is a stationary pressureless compressible Euler system with source terms and independent variables on curved surface. As a by-product, they obtain a formula for pressure distribution on surfaces of general obstacles in hypersonic flows, which is a generalization of the classical Newton-Busemann law for drag/lift in hypersonic aerodynamics.     

Delta shocks and vacuum states in vanishing pressure limits of solutions to the relativistic Euler equations for polytropic gases

The Riemann solutions for the Euler system of conservation laws of energy and momentum in special relativity for polytropic gases are considered. It is rigorously proved that, as pressure vanishes, they tend to the two kinds of Riemann solutions to the corresponding pressureless relativistic Euler equations: the one includes a delta shock, which is formed by a weighted δ-measure, and the other involves vacuum state.     

Regularity of solutions to regular shock reflection for potential flow

The shock reflection problem is one of the most important problems in mathematical fluid dynamics, since this problem not only arises in many important physical situations but also is fundamental for the mathematical theory of multidimensional conservation laws that is still largely incomplete. However, most of the fundamental issues for shock reflection have not been understood, including the regularity and transition of different patterns of shock reflection configurations. Therefore, it is important to establish the regularity of solutions to shock reflection in order to understand fully the phenomena of shock reflection. On the other hand, for a regular reflection configuration, the potential flow governs the exact behavior of the solution in C ^1,1 across the pseudo-sonic circle even starting from the full Euler flow, that is, both of the nonlinear systems are actually the same in a physically significant region near the pseudo-sonic circle; thus, it becomes essential to understand the optimal regularity of solutions for the potential flow across the pseudo-sonic circle (the transonic boundary from the elliptic to hyperbolic region) and at the point where the pseudo-sonic circle (the degenerate elliptic curve) meets the reflected shock (a free boundary connecting the elliptic to hyperbolic region). In this paper, we study the regularity of solutions to regular shock reflection for potential flow. In particular, we prove that the C ^1,1-regularity is optimal for the solution across the pseudo-sonic circle and at the point where the pseudo-sonic circle meets the reflected shock. We also obtain the C ^2,α regularity of the solution up to the pseudo-sonic circle in the pseudo-subsonic region. The problem involves two types of transonic flow: one is a continuous transition through the pseudo-sonic circle from the pseudo-supersonic region to the pseudo-subsonic region; the other a jump transition through the transonic shock as a free boundary from another pseudo-supersonic region to the pseudo-subsonic region. The techniques and ideas developed in this paper will be useful to other regularity problems for nonlinear degenerate equations involving similar difficulties.     

Delta-shocks and vacuum states in the vanishing pressure limit of solutions to the isentropic Euler equations for modified Chaplygin gas

The phenomena of concentration and cavitation and the formation of δ-shocks and vacuum states in solutions to the isentropic Euler equations for a modified Chaplygin gas are analyzed as the double parameter pressure vanishes. Firstly, the Riemann problem of the isentropic Euler equations for a modified Chaplygin gas is solved analytically. Secondly, it is rigorously shown that, as the pressure vanishes, any two-shock Riemann solution to the isentropic Euler equations for a modified Chaplygin gas tends to a δ-shock solution to the transport equations, and the intermediate density between the two shocks tends to a weighted δ-measure that forms the δ-shock; any two-rarefaction-wave Riemann solution to the isentropic Euler equations for a modified Chaplygin gas tends to a two-contact-discontinuity solution to the transport equations, the nonvacuum intermediate state between the two rarefaction waves tends to a vacuum state. Finally, some numerical results exhibiting the formation of δ-shocks and vacuum states are presented as the pressure decreases.     

Existence of traveling waves in compressible Euler equations with viscosity and capillarity

Given any Lax shock of the compressible Euler dynamics equations, we show that there exists the corresponding traveling wave of the system when viscosity and capillarity are suitably added. For a traveling wave corresponding to a given Lax shock, the governing viscous–capillary system is reduced to a system of two differential equations of first-order, which admits an asymptotically stable equilibrium point and a saddle point. We then develop the method of estimating attraction domain of the asymptotically stable equilibrium point for the compressible Euler equations and show that the saddle point in fact lies on the boundary of this set. Then, we establish a saddle-to-stable connection by pointing out that there is a stable trajectory leaving the saddle point and entering the attraction domain of the asymptotically stable equilibrium point. This gives us a traveling wave of the viscous–capillary compressible Euler equations.     

The analytical solution of two interesting hyperbolic problems as a test case for a finite volume method with a new grid refinement technique

A finite volume method with grid adaption is applied to two hyperbolic problems: the ultra-relativistic Euler equations, and a scalar conservation law. Both problems are considered in two space dimensions and share the common feature of moving shock waves. In contrast to the classical Euler equations, the derivation of appropriate initial conditions for the ultra-relativistic Euler equations is a non-trivial problem that is solved using one-dimensional shock conditions and the Lorentz invariance of the system. The discretization of both problems is based on a finite volume method of second order in both space and time on a triangular grid. We introduce a variant of the min-mod limiter that avoids unphysical states for the Euler system. The grid is adapted during the integration process. The frequency of grid adaption is controlled automatically in order to guarantee a fine resolution of the moving shock fronts. We introduce the concept of “width refinement” which enlarges the width of strongly refined regions around the shock fronts; the optimal width is found by a numerical study. As a result we are able to improve efficiency by decreasing the number of adaption steps. The performance of the finite volume scheme is compared with several lower order methods.     

Global existence of shock front solutions in 1-dimensional piston problem in the relativistic Euler equations

The paper studies the 1-D piston problem of the relativistic Euler equations when the speed of the piston is a perturbation of a constant. A sequence of approximate solutions constructed by a modified Glimm scheme is proved to be convergent to the weak solution (which includes a strong leading shock) to the piston problem. In particular, we give the precise estimates on the reflection of the perturbed waves on the piston and the leading shock. The paper is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 10626034) and the Special Research Fund for Selecting Excellent Young Teachers of the Universities in Shanghai.     

From gas dynamics with large friction to gradient flows describing diffusion theories

We study the emergence of gradient flows in Wasserstein distance as high friction limits of an abstract Euler flow generated by an energy functional. We develop a relative energy calculation that connects the Euler flow to the gradient flow in the diffusive limit regime. We apply this approach to prove convergence from the Euler–Poisson system with friction to the Keller–Segel system in the regime that the latter has smooth solutions. The same methodology is used to establish convergence from the Euler–Korteweg theory with monotone pressure laws to the Cahn–Hilliard equation.