Existence of global solutions for isentropic gas flow with friction

Abstract

In this paper, we study the existence of global entropy solutions for the Cauchy problem of the extended river flow system with a friction α(x) depending on the space variable x. First, under the boundedness of , we apply the viscosity-flux approximation method coupled with the maximum principle to obtain the a priori L∞ estimates for the approximation solutions. Second, we prove the pointwise convergence of the approximation solutions by using the compactness framework from the compensated compactness theory. Finally, as a by-product, we obtain the existence of global solutions for isentropic gas flow in the Laval nozzle with friction.