On positivity preserving finite volume schemesfor Euler equations

Summary. We consider the positivity preserving property of first and higher order finite volume schemes for one and two dimensional Euler equations of gas dynamics. A general framework is established which shows the positivity of density and pressure whenever the underlying one dimensional first order building block based on an exact or approximate Riemann solver and the reconstruction are both positivity preserving. Appropriate limitation to achieve a high order positivity preserving reconstruction is described. Received May 20, 1994