Multidimensional transonic shocks and free boundary problems for nonlinear equations of mixed type

We establish the existence and stability of multidimensional transonic shocks for the Euler equations for steady potential compressible fluids. The Euler equations, consisting of the conservation law of mass and the Bernoulli law for the velocity, can be written as a second-order, nonlinear equation of mixed elliptic-hyperbolic type for the velocity potential. The transonic shock problem can be formulated into the following free boundary problem: The free boundary is the location of the transonic shock which divides the two regions of smooth flow, and the equation is hyperbolic in the upstream region where the smooth perturbed flow is supersonic. We develop a nonlinear approach to deal with such a free boundary problem in order to solve the transonic shock problem. Our results indicate that there exists a unique solution of the free boundary problem such that the equation is always elliptic in the downstream region and the free boundary is smooth, provided that the hyperbolic phase is close to a uniform flow. We prove that the free boundary is stable under the steady perturbation of the hyperbolic phase. We also establish the existence and stability of multidimensional transonic shocks near spherical or circular transonic shocks.

     

Transonic shock in a nozzle I: 2D case

In this paper we establish the existence and uniqueness of a transonic shock for the steady flow through a general two‐dimensional nozzle with variable sections. The flow is governed by the inviscid potential equation, and is supersonic upstream, has no‐flow boundary conditions on the nozzle walls, and a given pressure at the exit of the exhaust section. The transonic shock is a free boundary dividing two regions of C flow in the nozzle. The potential equation is hyperbolic upstream where the flow is supersonic, and elliptic in the downstream subsonic region. In particular, our results show that there exists a solution to the corresponding free boundary problem such that the equation is always subsonic in the downstream region of the nozzle when the pressure in the exit of the exhaustion section is appropriately larger than that in the entry. This confirms exactly the conjecture of Courant and Friedrichs on the transonic phenomena in a nozzle [10]. Furthermore, the stability of the transonic shock is also proved when the upstream supersonic flow is a small steady perturbation for the uniform supersonic flow or the pressure at the exit has a small perturbation. The main ingredients of our analysis are a generalized hodograph transformation and multiplier methods for elliptic equation with mixed boundary conditions and corner singularities. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

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.     

Transonic shocks in 3-D compressible flow passing a duct with a general section for Euler systems

This paper is devoted to the study of a transonic shock in three-dimensional steady compressible flow passing a duct with a general section. The flow is described by the steady full Euler system, which is purely hyperbolic in the supersonic region and is of elliptic-hyperbolic type in the subsonic region. The upstream flow at the entrance of the duct is a uniform supersonic one adding a three-dimensional perturbation, while the pressure of the downstream flow at the exit of the duct is assigned apart from a constant difference. The problem to determine the transonic shock and the flow behind the shock is reduced to a free boundary value problem of an elliptic-hyperbolic system. The new ingredients of our paper contain the decomposition of the elliptic-hyperbolic system, the determination of the shock front by a pair of partial differential equations coupled with the three-dimensional Euler system, and the regularity analysis of solutions to the boundary value problems introduced in our discussion.

     

Stability of supersonic contact discontinuity for two-dimensional steady compressible Euler flows in a finite nozzle

In this paper, we study the stability of supersonic contact discontinuity for the two-dimensional steady compressible Euler flows in a finitely long nozzle of varying cross-sections. We formulate the problem as an initial–boundary value problem with the contact discontinuity as a free boundary. To deal with the free boundary value problem, we employ the Lagrangian transformation to straighten the contact discontinuity and then the free boundary value problem becomes a fixed boundary value problem. We develop an iteration scheme and establish some novel estimates of solutions for the first order of hyperbolic equations on a cornered domain. Finally, by using the inverse Lagrangian transformation and under the assumption that the incoming flows and the nozzle walls are smooth perturbations of the background state, we prove that the original free boundary problem admits a unique weak solution which is a small perturbation of the background state and the solution consists of two smooth supersonic flows separated by a smooth contact discontinuity.     

Well-posedness of transonic characteristic discontinuities in two-dimensional steady compressible Euler flows

In our previous work, we have established the existence of transonic characteristic discontinuities separating supersonic flows from a static gas in two-dimensional steady compressible Euler flows under a perturbation with small total variation of the incoming supersonic flow over a solid right wedge. It is a free boundary problem in Eulerian coordinates and, across the free boundary (characteristic discontinuity), the Euler equations are of elliptic–hyperbolic composite-mixed type. In this paper, we further prove that such a transonic characteristic discontinuity solution is unique and L ¹–stable with respect to the small perturbation of the incoming supersonic flow in Lagrangian coordinates.     

A linear approximation for the regular reflection of a weak shock at a wedge satisfying sonic condition

The problem of shock reflection by a wedge, which the flow is dominated by the unsteady potential flow equation, is a important problem. In weak regular reflection, the flow behind the reflected shock is immediately supersonic and becomes subsonic further downstream. The reflected shock is transonic. Its position is a free boundary for the unsteady potential equation, which is degenerate at the sonic line in self-similar coordinates. Applying the special partial hodograph transformation used in [Zhouping Xin, Huicheng Yin, Transonic shock in a nozzle I, 2-D case, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 57 (2004) 1-51; Zhouping Xin, Huicheng Yin, Transonic shock in a nozzle II, 3-D case, IMS, preprint (2003)], we derive a nonlinear degenerate elliptic equation with nonlinear boundary conditions in a piecewise smooth domain. When the angle, which between incident shock and wedge, is small, we can see that weak regular reflection as the disturbance of normal reflection as in [Shuxing Chen, Linear approximation of shock reflection at a wedge with large angle, Comm. Partial Differential Equations 21 (78) (1996) 1103-1118]. By linearizing the resulted nonlinear equation and boundary conditions with above viewpoint, we obtain a linear degenerate elliptic equation with mixed boundary conditions and a linear degenerate elliptic equation with oblique boundary conditions in a curved quadrilateral domain. By means of elliptic regularization techniques, delicate a priori estimate and compact arguments, we show that the solution of linearized problem with oblique boundary conditions is smooth in the interior and Lipschitz continuous up to the degenerate boundary.     

Global subsonic Euler flows in an infinitely long axisymmetric nozzle

In this paper, we consider global subsonic compressible flows through an infinitely long axisymmetric nozzle. The flow is governed by the steady Euler equations and has boundary conditions on the nozzle walls. Existence and uniqueness of global subsonic solution are established for an infinitely long axisymmetric nozzle, when the variation of Bernoulli's function in the upstream is sufficiently small and the mass flux of the incoming flow is less than some critical value. The results give a strictly mathematical proof to the assertion in Bers (1958) [2]: there exists a critical value of the incoming mass flux such that a global subsonic flow exists uniquely in a nozzle, provided that the incoming mass flux is less than the critical value. The existence of subsonic flow is obtained by the precisely a priori estimates for the elliptic equation of two variables. With the assumptions on the nozzle in the far fields, the asymptotic behavior can be derived by a blow-up argument for the infinitely long nozzle. Finally, we obtain the uniqueness of uniformly subsonic flow by energy estimate and derive the existence of the critical value of incoming mass flux.     

Subsonic solutions to compressible transonic potential problems for isothermal self-similar flows and steady flows

We establish boundary and interior gradient estimates, and show that no supersonic bubble appears inside of a subsonic region for transonic potential flows for both self-similar isothermal and steady problems. We establish an existence result for the self-similar isothermal problem, and improve the Hopf maximum principle to show that the flow is strictly elliptic inside of the subsonic region for the steady problem.     

A remark on determination of transonic shocks in divergent nozzles for steady compressible Euler flows

In this paper we construct a class of transonic shock in a divergent nozzle which is a part of an angular sector (for two-dimensional case) or a cone (for three-dimensional case) which does not contain the vertex. The state of the compressible flow depends only on the distance from the vertex of the angular sector or the cone. It is supersonic at the entrance, while for appropriately given large pressure at the exit, a transonic shock front appears in the nozzle and the flow becomes subsonic after passing it. The position and strength of the shock is automatically adjusted according to the pressure given at the exit. We demonstrate these phenomena by using the two-dimensional and three-dimensional full steady compressible Euler systems. The idea involved is to solve discontinuous solutions of a class of two-point boundary value problems for systems of ordinary differential equations. Results established in this paper may be used to analyze transonic shocks in general nozzles.     

STABILIZATION EFFECT OF FRICTIONS FOR TRANSONIC SHOCKS IN STEADY COMPRESSIBLE EULER FLOWS PASSING THREE-DIMENSIONAL DUCTS

Transonic shocks play a pivotal role in designation of supersonic inlets and ramjets. For the three-dimensional steady non-isentropic compressible Euler system with frictions, we constructe a family of transonic shock solutions in rectilinear ducts with square cross-sections. In this article, we are devoted to proving rigorously that a large class of these transonic shock solutions are stable, under multidimensional small perturbations of the upcoming supersonic flows and back pressures at the exits of ducts in suitable function spaces.This manifests that frictions have a stabilization effect on transonic shocks in ducts, in consideration of previous works which shown that transonic shocks in purely steady Euler flows are not stable in such ducts. Except its implications to applications, because frictions lead to a stronger coupling between the elliptic and hyperbolic parts of the three-dimensional steady subsonic Euler system, we develop the framework established in previous works to study more complex and interesting Venttsel problems of nonlocal elliptic equations.     

A linear approximation for the regular reflection of a weak shock at a wedge

The problem of shock reflection by a wedge in the flow dominated by the unsteady potential flow equation is an important problem. In weak regular reflection, the flow behind the reflected shock is immediately supersonic and becomes subsonic further downstream. The reflected shock is transonic. Its position is a free boundary for the unsteady potential equation, which is degenerate at the sonic line in self-similar coordinates. Applying the special partial hodograph transformation used in [Zhouping Xin, Huicheng Yin, Transonic shock in a nozzle I, 2-D case, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. LVII (2004) 1-51; Zhouping Xin, Huicheng Yin, Transonic shock in a nozzle II, 3-D case, IMS, preprint, 2003], we derive a nonlinear degenerate elliptic equation with nonlinear boundary conditions in a piecewise smooth domain. When the angle between incident shock and wedge is small, we can see the weak regular reflection as the disturbance of normal reflection as in [Chen Shuxing, Linear approximation of shock reflection at a wedge with large angle, Comm. Partial Differential Equations 21(78) (1996) 1103-1118]. By linearizing the resulted nonlinear equation and boundary conditions with the above viewpoint in [Chen Shuxing, Linear approximation of shock reflection at a wedge with large angle, Comm. Partial Differential Equations 21(78) (1996) 1103-1118], we obtain a linear degenerate elliptic equation with mixed boundary conditions in a curved quadrilateral domain. By means of elliptic regularization techniques, a delicate a priori estimate and compact arguments, we show that the solution of the linearized problem is smooth in the interior and Lipschitz continuous up to the degenerate boundary.     

Steady transonic shocks and free boundary problems in infinite cylinders for the Euler equations

We establish the existence and stability of multidimensional transonic shocks (hyperbolic‐elliptic shocks) for the Euler equations for steady compressible potential fluids in infinite cylinders. The Euler equations, consisting of the conservation law of mass and the Bernoulli law for velocity, can be written as a second order nonlinear equation of mixed elliptic‐hyperbolic type for the velocity potential. The transonic shock problem in an infinite cylinder can be formulated into the following free boundary problem: The free boundary is the location of the multidimensional transonic shock which divides two regions of C^1,α flow in the infinite cylinder, and the equation is hyperbolic in the upstream region where the C^1,α perturbed flow is supersonic. We develop a nonlinear approach to deal with such a free boundary problem in order to solve the transonic shock problem in unbounded domains. Our results indicate that there exists a solution of the free boundary problem such that the equation is always elliptic in the unbounded downstream region, the uniform velocity state at infinity in the downstream direction is uniquely determined by the given hyperbolic phase, and the free boundary is C^1,α, provided that the hyperbolic phase is close in C^1,α to a uniform flow. We further prove that, if the steady perturbation of the hyperbolic phase is C^2,α, the free boundary is C^2,α and stable under the steady perturbation. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals Inc.     

Stability of transonic shock fronts in two-dimensional Euler systems

We study the stability of stationary transonic shock fronts under two-dimensional perturbation in gas dynamics. The motion of the gas is described by the full Euler system. The system is hyperbolic ahead of the shock front, and is a hyperbolic-elliptic composed system behind the shock front. The stability of the shock front and the downstream flow under two-dimensional perturbation of the upstream flow can be reduced to a free boundary value problem of the hyperbolic-elliptic composed system. We develop a method to deal with boundary value problems for such systems. The crucial point is to decompose the system to a canonical form, in which the hyperbolic part and the elliptic part are only weakly coupled in their coefficients. By several sophisticated iterative processes we establish the existence and uniqueness of the solution to the described free boundary value problem. Our result indicates the stability of the transonic shock front and the flow field behind the shock.

     

Existence and uniqueness analysis of a detached shock problem for the potential flow

We study a problem for two-dimensional steady potential and isentropic Euler equations in a bounded domain, where an artificial detached shock interacts with a wedge. Using the stream function, we obtain a free boundary problem for the subsonic state and the detached artificial shock curve and we prove that such configuration admits a unique solution in certain weighted Hölder spaces. The proof is based on various Hölder and Schauder estimates for second-order elliptic equations and fixed point theorems. Moreover, we pose an energy principle and remark that the physical attached shock is the minimizer of the energy functional.     

Three dimensional steady subsonic Euler flows in bounded nozzles

The existence and uniqueness of three dimensional steady subsonic Euler flows in rectangular nozzles were obtained when prescribing normal component of momentum at both the entrance and exit. If, in addition, the normal component of the voriticity and the variation of Bernoulli's function at the entrance are both zero, then there exists a unique subsonic potential flow when the magnitude of the normal component of the momentum is less than a critical number. As the magnitude of the normal component of the momentum approaches the critical number, the associated flows converge to a subsonic–sonic flow. Furthermore, when the normal component of vorticity and the variation of Bernoulli function are both small, the existence and uniqueness of subsonic Euler flows with non-zero vorticity are established. The proof of these results is based on a new formulation for the Euler system, a priori estimate for nonlinear elliptic equations with nonlinear boundary conditions, detailed study for a linear div–curl system, and delicate estimate for the transport equations.     

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.

     

Note on the uniqueness of subsonic Euler flows in an axisymmetric nozzle

In this paper, we consider the uniqueness of globally subsonic compressible flows through an infinitely long axisymmetric nozzle. The flow is governed by the steady Euler equations and satisfies no-flow boundary conditions on the nozzle walls. We will show that for given mass flux and Bernoulli’s function in the upstream, the subsonic flow is unique in the class of all axisymmetric solutions, which possess the asymptotic behaviors at the far fields. This result extends the uniqueness of solutions in the previous paper Du and Duan (2011) [1].     

Transonic shock wave in an infinite nozzle asymptotically converging to a cylinder

We construct a single transonic shock wave pattern in an infinite nozzle asymptotically converging to a cylinder, which is close to a uniform transonic shock wave. In other words, suppose there is a uniform transonic shock wave in an infinite cylinder nozzle which can be constructed easily, if we perturbed the supersonic incoming flow and the infinite nozzle a little bit, we can obtain a transonic wave near the uniform one. As a consequence, we can show that the uniform transonic wave is stable with respect to the perturbation of the incoming flow and nozzle wall. Based on the theory of [G.Q. Chen, M. Feldman, Existence and stability of multi-dimensional transonic flows through an infinite nozzle of arbitrary cross-sections, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 184 (2007) 185-242], the crucial parts of this paper are to derive the uniform Schauder estimates of the linear elliptic equation for the infinite nozzle asymptotically converging to a cylinder.     

Subsonic solutions for compressible transonic potential flows

We establish an existence theorem for transonic isentropic potential flows where the subsonic region is bounded by the sonic line and thus the governing equation may become degenerate on the boundary partly or entirely. It has been conjectured by experiments and numerical studies that the self-similar multidimensional flow changes its type, namely, hyperbolic far from the origin (supersonic region) and elliptic near the origin (subsonic region). Furthermore, the potential equation has a different nonlinearity compared to other transonic problems such as the unsteady transonic small disturbance equation, the nonlinear wave equation, and the pressure gradient equation. Namely, the coefficients of the potential equation depend on the gradients while others are independent of the gradients. We provide techniques to handle the gradients, establish interior and boundary gradient estimates for the potential flow in a convex region, and answer the conjecture, that is, the flow is strictly elliptic and the region is subsonic.