On an extension of Riemann's method of integration, with applications to one-dimensional gas dynamics

Abstract

The object of this paper is to investigate the influence of the initial values on the behaviour of the one-dimensional unsteady isentropic motion of a perfect gas, and in particular the occurrence of singularities. For this purpose it is expedient to develop an unfolding procedure in the theory of partial differential equations of hyperbolic type. This not only resolves a difficulty in the classical treatment of the initial value problem associated with this type of equation, but also simplifies the presentation.The geometrical properties of the singularities (branch and limit lines, edges of regression, etc.) occurring in two-dimensional steady flow have been well discussed already, and their counterparts in one-dimensional unsteady motion have been indicated by Stocker and Meyer(5). However, here a method for finding the explicit analytic connexion between the occurrence of such singularities and the prescribed initial conditions is developed.Assuming quite general initial conditions, two examples are considered. In the first, a conjecture of Riemann is verified; in the second a special type of periodic solution is discussed, and it is shown that this solution cannot be continued to all values of t > 0. Finally, this latter result is shown to be true for arbitrary periodic initial conditions.