Efficient high‐resolution relaxation schemes for hyperbolic systems of conservation laws

In this work, we present a total variation diminishing (TVD) scheme in the zero relaxation limit for nonlinear hyperbolic conservation law using flux limiters within the framework of a relaxation system that converts a nonlinear conservation law into a system of linear convection equations with nonlinear source terms. We construct a numerical flux for space discretization of the obtained relaxation system and modify the definition of the smoothness parameter depending on the direction of the flow so that the scheme obeys the physical property of hyperbolicity. The advantages of the proposed scheme are that it can give second‐order accuracy everywhere without introducing oscillations for 1‐D problems (at least with) smooth initial condition. Also, the proposed scheme is more efficient as it works for any non‐zero constant value of the flux limiter ? ? [0, 1], where other TVD schemes fail. The resulting scheme is shown to be TVD in the zero relaxation limit for 1‐D scalar equations. Bound for the limiter function is obtained. Numerical results support the theoretical results. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.