On the Riemann problem for liquid or gas-liquid media

Self-similar solutions to the Riemann problem for water with the modified Tait equation of state are presented. The methods of Smoller for gas dynamics are employed to reduce the problem to the solution of a single non-linear equation. The same methods are used for solving the Riemann problem at a gas-water interface. In both cases the method of interval bisections affords a solution technique free of problems with convergence.