The Riemann problem for general systems of conservation laws

Abstract

An extended entropy condition (E) has previously been proposed, by which we have been able to prove uniqueness and existence theorems for the Riemann problem for general 2-conservation laws. In this paper we consider the Riemann problem for general n-conservation laws. We first show how the shock are related to the characteristic speeds. A uniqueness theorem is proved subject to condition (E), which is equivalent to Lax's shock inequalities when the system is “genuinely nonlinear.” These general observations are then applied to the equations of gas dynamics without the convexity condition P vv ( v, s) > 0. Using condition (E), we prove the uniqueness theorem for the Riemann problem of the gas dynamics equations. This answers a question of Bethe. Next, we establish the relation between the shock speed σ and the entropy S along any shock curve. That the entropy S increases across any shock, first proved by Weyl for the convex case, is established for the nonconvex case by a different method. Wendroff also considered the gas dynamics equations without convexity conditions and constructed a solution to the Riemann problem. Notice that his solution does satisfy our condition (E).