Some remarks about the resolution of high velocity flows near low densities

High velocity flows which are exposed to strong rarefaction waves and creating low densities regions in it present difficulties and inaccuracies for numerical resolution. In particular, variables related to the internal energy are wrongly evaluated. Use of classical schemes solving the Euler equations in conservative variables introduces significant errors in the determination of temperature. We recommend to employ a non-conservative formulation of the energy equation. Results found to be more accurate in using the present internal energy formulation. In order to have the formulation available for both shock and strong rarefaction waves, we propose a hybrid formulation of conservative and non-conservative ones, depending on a shock indicator. The results are compared with exact solutions and show a significant improvement of the accuracy. The method is then extended to two-dimensional cases. Received 28 March 1997 / Accepted 18 June 1997