A kinetic method for strictly nonlinear conservation laws (Q1175299)

The authors propose a new solution method for nonlinear scalar conservation laws. The technique is based on increasing the dimension by introducing an artificial velocity-type variable \(\xi\) and choosing a suitable distribution function \(G(t,x,\xi)\) for which a linear kinetic equation holds. From \(G\) the solution to the original problem can be recovered by integration with respect to \(\xi\). Using a time step and various discretizations in space, a number of numerical methods are obtained. Among them are well-known upstream methods.