Upstream Supersonic Flow Research Articles

Stability and asymptotic behavior of transonic flows past wedges for the full Euler equations

The existence, uniqueness, and asymptotic behavior of steady transonic flows past a curved wedge, involving transonic shocks, governed by the two-dimensional full Euler equations are established. The stability of both weak and strong transonic shocks under the perturbation of the upstream supersonic flow and the wedge boundary is proved. The problem is formulated as a one-phase free boundary problem, in which the transonic shock is treated as a free boundary. The full Euler equations are decomposed into two algebraic equations and a first-order elliptic system of two equations in Lagrangian coordinates. With careful elliptic estimates by using appropriate weighted Hölder norms, the iteration map is defined and analyzed, and the existence of its fixed point is established by performing the Schauder fixed point argument. The careful analysis of the asymptotic behavior of the solutions reveals particular characters of the full Euler equations.

Stability of transonic jets with strong rarefaction waves for two-dimensional steady compressible Euler system

We study supersonic flow past a convex corner which is surrounded by quiescent gas. When the pressure of the upstream supersonic flow is larger than that of the quiescent gas, there appears a strong rarefaction wave to rarefy the supersonic gas. Meanwhile, a transonic characteristic discontinuity appears to separate the supersonic flow behind the rarefaction wave from the static gas. In this paper, we employ a wave front tracking method to establish structural stability of such a flow pattern under non-smooth perturbations of the upcoming supersonic flow. It is an initial-value/free-boundary problem for the two-dimensional steady non-isentropic compressible Euler system. The main ingredients are careful analysis of wave interactions and construction of suitable Glimm functional, to overcome the difficulty that the strong rarefaction wave has a large total variation.

Stability of transonic jet with strong shock in two-dimensional steady compressible Euler flows

For steady supersonic flow past a solid convex corner surrounded by quiescent gas, if the pressure of the upcoming supersonic flow is lower than the pressure of the quiescent gas, there may appear a strong shock to increase the pressure and then a transonic characteristic discontinuity to separate the supersonic flow behind the shock-front from the still gas. In this paper, we prove the global existence, uniqueness, and stability of such flow patterns under suitable conditions on the upstream supersonic flow and the pressure of the surrounding quiescent gas, for the two-dimensional steady complete compressible Euler system. Mathematically, a global weak solution to a characteristic free boundary problem of hyperbolic conservation laws is constructed and shown to be unique and stable under the framework of front tracking method.

Stability of transonic characteristic discontinuities in two-dimensional steady compressible Euler flows

For a two-dimensional steady supersonic Euler flow past a convex cornered wall with right angle, a characteristic discontinuity (vortex sheet and/or entropy wave) is generated, which separates the supersonic flow from the quiescent gas (hence subsonic). We proved that such a transonic characteristic discontinuity is structurally stable under small perturbations of the upstream supersonic flow in BV. The existence of a weak entropy solution and Lipschitz continuous free boundary (i.e., characteristic discontinuity) is established. To achieve this, the problem is formulated as a free boundary problem for a nonstrictly hyperbolic system of conservation laws; and the free boundary problem is then solved by analyzing nonlinear wave interactions and employing the front tracking method.

Stability of transonic shock-fronts in three-dimensional conical steady potential flow past a perturbed cone

For an upstream supersonic flow past a straight-sided cone in $\R^3$ whose vertex angle is less than the critical angle, a transonic (supersonic-subsonic) shock-front attached to the cone vertex can be formed in the flow. In this paper we analyze the stability of transonic shock-fronts in three-dimensional steady potential flow past a perturbed cone. We establish that the self-similar transonic shock-front solution is conditionally stable in structure with respect to the conical perturbation of the cone boundary and the upstream flow in appropriate function spaces. In particular, it is proved that the slope of the shock-front tends asymptotically to the slope of the unperturbed self-similar shock-front downstream at infinity.

Transonic shocks and free boundary problems for the full Euler equations in infinite nozzles

We establish the existence, stability, and asymptotic behavior of transonic flows with a transonic shock for the steady, full Euler equations in two-dimensional infinite nozzles of slowly varying cross-sections. Given a smooth incoming flow that is close to a uniform supersonic state at the entrance, we prove that there exists a transonic flow whose infinite downstream smooth subsonic region is separated by a smooth transonic shock from the upstream supersonic flow. The solution is unique within the class of transonic solutions that are close to the background solution. This problem is approached by a free boundary problem in which the transonic shock is formulated as a free boundary. An iteration scheme for the free boundary is developed and its fixed point is shown to exist, which is a solution of the free boundary problem, by combining some delicate estimates for a second-order nonlinear elliptic equation on a Lipschitz domain.

Transonic nozzle flows and free boundary problems for the full Euler equations

We establish the existence and uniqueness of transonic flows with a transonic shock through a two-dimensional nozzle of slowly varying cross-sections. The transonic flow is governed by the steady, full Euler equations. Given an incoming smooth flow that is close to a constant supersonic state (i.e., smooth Cauchy data) at the entrance and the subsonic condition with nearly horizontal velocity at the exit of the nozzle, we prove that there exists a transonic flow whose downstream smooth subsonic region is separated by a smooth transonic shock from the upstream supersonic flow. This problem is approached by a one-phase free boundary problem in which the transonic shock is formulated as a free boundary. The full Euler equations are decomposed into an elliptic equation and a system of transport equations for the free boundary problem. An iteration scheme is developed and its fixed point is shown to exist, which is a solution of the free boundary problem, by combining some delicate estimates for the elliptic equation and the system of transport equations with the Schauder fixed point argument. The uniqueness of transonic nozzle flows is also established by employing the coordinate transformation of Euler–Lagrange type and detailed estimates of the solutions.

Kinetic theory study of steady condensation of a polyatomic gas

The steady one-dimensional flow of a monatomic vapor condensing onto a planar surface kept at constant and uniform temperature has been the subject of a number of investigations based on the kinetic theory of gases. It has been shown that, depending on the upstream value of the Mach number normal to the surface, a steady solution exists only when the problem parameters lie on a surface in the parameters spaces (upstream subsonic flow), or when the problem parameters lie in a proper subregion of the whole parameters space (upstream supersonic flow). Similar detailed studies do not exist for a polyatomic vapor, in spite of their potential relevance for many applications. The present paper aims at describing the effects of internal degrees of freedom on the relationships which determine the existence of steady one-dimensional condensation flows. The study is based on the numerical solution of the Boltzmann equation for a gas with rotational degrees of freedom. Inelastic collision are described by the Borgnakke-Larsen model. A few cases also have been computed by a finite difference discretization of Holway’s model kinetic equation. The role of boundary conditions is also briefly discussed.

Transonic shock in a nozzle I: 2D case

AbstractIn this paper we establish the existence and uniqueness of a transonic shock for the steady flow through a general two‐dimensional nozzle with variable sections. The flow is governed by the inviscid potential equation, and is supersonic upstream, has no‐flow boundary conditions on the nozzle walls, and a given pressure at the exit of the exhaust section. The transonic shock is a free boundary dividing two regions of C flow in the nozzle. The potential equation is hyperbolic upstream where the flow is supersonic, and elliptic in the downstream subsonic region. In particular, our results show that there exists a solution to the corresponding free boundary problem such that the equation is always subsonic in the downstream region of the nozzle when the pressure in the exit of the exhaustion section is appropriately larger than that in the entry. This confirms exactly the conjecture of Courant and Friedrichs on the transonic phenomena in a nozzle [10]. Furthermore, the stability of the transonic shock is also proved when the upstream supersonic flow is a small steady perturbation for the uniform supersonic flow or the pressure at the exit has a small perturbation. The main ingredients of our analysis are a generalized hodograph transformation and multiplier methods for elliptic equation with mixed boundary conditions and corner singularities. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.