Kinetic stabilization of a nonlinear sonic phase boundary (Q1570905)

The authors consider a system of conservation laws modelling the longitudinal motion of an elastic bar. Phase boundary is viewed as a discontinuity line separating different phases. Across the phase boundary, the Rankine-Hugoniot conditions are satisfied. Conditions on the initiation of phase transition are omitted because the global existence of solutions produced by small perturbations of a sonic background phase wave is of interest. The global existence of solutions to the initial value problem is proved by means of a Glimm-type scheme under certain assumptions concerning an additional constitutive function which selects the entropy dissipation rate across the phase boundary. These assumptions can be considered as conditions stabilizing the sonic phase boundary.