Physics and computations of gas dynamic waves (Q1115734)

Propagation of acoustic signals, of gas dynamic wave fronts, and of physical and numerical information, is expressed in a common mathematical form in terms of the geometry of moving surfaces on which the characteristic determinant vanishes. Characteristic surfaces, vortex sheets, contact surfaces and shock waves, all have associated with them ray fields defined by integral curves of a set of Hamiltonian equations. Possibilities of computing gas flows, with and without singular surfaces, by a geometrical construction are discussed and examples from literature are cited.