Interaction of Rarefaction Waves of the Two-Dimensional Self-Similar Euler Equations

Abstract

We construct classical self-similar solutions to the interaction of two arbitrary planar rarefaction waves for the polytropic Euler equations in two space dimensions. The binary interaction represents a major type of interaction in the two-dimensional Riemann problems, and includes in particular the classical problem of the expansion of a wedge of gas into vacuum. Based on the hodograph transformation, the method employed here involves the phase space analysis of a second-order equation and the inversion back to (or development onto) the physical space.