The existence of steady compressible subsonic impinging jet flows (Q1661662)

A steady compressible irrotational subsonic jet issuing from a semi-infinite nozzle, which collides an impermeable wall, is studied. The jet fluid is governed by the isentropic compressible Euler equations. The existence of jets with two asymptotic directions (which in fact collides the wall) is given; on the contrary, a non-existence result is given for the case of one asymptotic direction. A new element is the existence of an interface \(\Gamma\) which separates the two fluids going up and down on the wall, and also the existence of a branching point (the intersection of the wall and \(\Gamma\)). The subsonic truncation method is used to get the equivalent uniform elliptic problem (2.6) for the stream function. The methods used in [\textit{H. W. Alt} et al., J. Differ. Equations 56, 82--141 (1985; Zbl 0614.76074)] and [\textit{X. Chen}, Nonlinear Anal., Theory Methods Appl. 16, No. 12, 1057--1087 (1991; Zbl 0739.76060)] are adapted to study the free boundary problem (2.6) in the case of non-symmetric nozzle and asymmetric free boundaries. A variational functional \(J\) (coercive and lower semicontinuous - see \textit{Lemma 2.1}) is introduced and the equivalent minimization problem is solved. A very interesting and careful analysis is given, concerning the minimizer element related with the boundary conditions on free surfaces (streamlines) issuing from the ends of the nozzle. The strong maximum principle is used and a condition for the atmospheric pressure is pointed out. The symmetric compressible impinging jet is studied in the last part. As the authors emphasized, this paper contains the solution of the ``open problem (4) in Chapter 16.3'' of \textit{A. Friedman} [Mathematics in industrial problems. Part 2. New York etc.: Springer-Verlag (1989; Zbl 0731.00005)].