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CA Aa214b Hw2 Sol

The document contains solutions to Homework #2 for the course AA 214B: Numerical Methods for Compressible Flows. It addresses three problems involving differentiation of a relation, centered rarefaction waves in the Burgers equation, and the validity of proposed self-similar solutions to the Burgers equation with specific initial conditions. The solutions include detailed mathematical derivations and graphical illustrations to support the findings.

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2 views3 pages

CA Aa214b Hw2 Sol

The document contains solutions to Homework #2 for the course AA 214B: Numerical Methods for Compressible Flows. It addresses three problems involving differentiation of a relation, centered rarefaction waves in the Burgers equation, and the validity of proposed self-similar solutions to the Burgers equation with specific initial conditions. The solutions include detailed mathematical derivations and graphical illustrations to support the findings.

Uploaded by

sumery7
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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AA 214B: Numerical Methods for Compressible Flows

(Winter 2013)

Solutions for Homework #2

Problem 1
Differentiate the relation u(ax, at) = C with respect to a, where x denotes space in one dimension, t denotes
time, a is a positive real constant, and C is another constant. Solve the resulting linear first-order partial
differential equation by the method of characteristics to prove that u is a function of xt .

Solution
Differentiating the equation with respect to a gives
du ∂u ∂u
=x +t =0
da ∂x ∂t
Using the method of characteristics to solve the PDE, we obtain
dx x
 

 =  x = c1 t
dt t ⇒
u = c2

 
du = 0
x
Thus the solution u is constant along the characteristics x = c1 t, which implies that it is a function of t.

Problem 2
Centered Rarefaction Waves are continuous, piece-wise smooth, non-constant, scale invariant solutions of
a scalar conservation law that have the form u(x, t) = ū xt . Determine the function ū in the case of the


Burgers equation.

Solution
Suppose that the solution to the Burgers equation is of the form u(x, t) = ū xt . Then, this equation can


be written as
∂ ū xt  x  ∂ ū x   x 
    
0 x x 0 x 1 x 1
+ ū t
= − 2 ū ( ) + ū( )ū ( ) = − 2 + ū ū0 = 0
∂t t ∂x t t t t t t t

Therfore a non trivial solution to the equation is


x
ū =
t

1
Problem 3
Consider the Burgers equation in an infinite domain and with the following initial conditions:

0 for x < 0
u(x, 0) =
1 for x > 0

1. Check in details if the following self-similar function is a valid solution of the above problem (illustrate
your answer with drawings)
for xt < 12

0
u(x, t) =
1 for xt > 12

2. Same question for 


 0 for xt < 0
x
u(x, t) = t for 0 < xt < 1
1 for xt > 1

Solution

1. The wave diagram for the proposed solution is plotted in Figure 1. This solution clearly satisfies the
initial conditions. It is constant away from the jump discontinuity. Hence, it satisfies the Burgers’
equation away from the jump discontinuity. Furthermore,
f (uR ) − f (uL ) 1/2 − 0 1
S= = =
uR − uL 1−0 2
and therefore the jump discontinuity satisfies the Rankine-Hugoniot-like condition. Unfortunately, the
jump in the proposed solution does not satisfy the entropy condition a(uL )(= 0) ≥ S(= 12 ) ≥ a(uR )(=
1). In addition, Figure 1 shows that the characteristics originate rather than terminate on the jump
discontinuity. For all these reasons, the first proposed solution is not a valid solution.

Figure 1: Wave diagram for the first proposed (and erroneous) solution

2. The second proposed solution is shown in Figure 2. It satisfies the initial conditions. It is uniform
outside the simple centered expansion fan and therefore clearly satisfies Burgers’ equation there. Inside,
the fan, the following holds
∂u ∂u ∂ x x ∂ x x x1
+u = ( )+ ( )=− 2 + =0
∂t ∂x ∂t t t ∂x t t t t

2
Figure 2: Wave diagram for the second proposed (and correct) solution

which shows that the second proposed solution also satisfies Burgers’ equation within the fan. Since it
does not contain any jump, there are no other checks to perform.

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