Numerical solutions to the self‐similar transonic two‐dimensional nonlinear wave system

We present numerical results on a two‐dimensional Riemann problem governed by the self‐similar nonlinear wave system that gives rise to a transonic shock. We consider a configuration for a vertical incident shock moving to the right above a rectangular object. The incident shock then interacts with a sonic circle soon after it moves beyond the object, and creates a transonic region. We implement Lax–Liu positive schemes and Strang splitting, and obtain several numerical solutions for the model system. With the numerical results that we have obtained, we present several analyses of the transonic shock strengths and the positions of the transonic shocks with various Riemann data. Moreover, due to the presence of the corner of the object, numerical oscillations are apparent. We discuss regularity results for the solution near the corner of the object. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.