A numerical scheme for three-dimensional front propagation and control of Jordan mode (Q2904835)

The three-dimensional propagation of a nonlinear wavefront into a polytropic gas in a uniform state and at rest is studied in this paper as a representative example of a front propagation. The conservation form of equations of a weakly nonlinear ray theory, are solved to obtain the successive positions and geometry of the wavefront. The proposed set of equations forms a weakly hyperbolic system of seven conservation laws with an additional vector constraint, each of whose components is a divergence-free condition. This constraint is an involution for the system of conservation laws, and it is termed a geometric solenoidal constraint. The analysis of a Cauchy problem for the linearized system shows that when this constraint is satisfied initially, the solution does not exhibit any Jordan mode. For the numerical simulation of the conservation laws a high resolution central scheme is employed. The second order accuracy of the scheme is achieved by using monotone upwind schemes for conservation laws (MUSCL)-type reconstructions and Runge-Kutta time discretizations. A constrained transport-type technique is used to enforce the geometric solenoidal constraint. Numerical experiments are presented to confirm the efficiency and robustness of the proposed numerical method and the control of the Jordan mode.