A flux-coordinate-splitting technique for flows with shocks and contact discontinuities (Q1186374)

The two-dimensional gasdynamic equations are solved everywhere in the flow field except in regions surrounding the contact discontinuities. A flux-vector-splitting (FVS) technique is applied to the Euler equations so that the directions of propagation of the signals and hence the shocks in the flow can be captured correctly. The split flux equations are solved using conventional second-order-accurate finite difference methods. In the regions surrounding the contact discontinuities, the gasdynamic equations are split into a set of one-dimensional equations. These are transformed in such a way that the density does not appear explicitly in the spatial derivatives of the resultant equations, which are of the Lagrangian form. The equations are then solved using second- order-accurate finite difference schemes and numerical smearing of the contact discontinuities is avoided because the dependent variables are continuous across the discontinuities.