Burgers Riemann problem with positive flux

ID: burgers-riemann-problem-with-positive-flux

Consider the Riemann problem on with initial condition for and for . No endpoint boundary conditions are imposed. When , its entropy solution is a shock wave with constant speed . In the original example , , the Rankine-Hugoniot condition gives
The left characteristic speed is and the right characteristic speed is , so : both sides enter the entropy shock. The Viscous Burgers travelling shock gives an exact smooth family tending to this solution.
Reversing the states to , still gives a Rankine-Hugoniot condition speed of , but now characteristic curves move away from the discontinuity. That expansion jump is a weak solution and fails entropy admissibility. For general , the selected entropy solution is the continuous self-similar solution
This rarefaction wave fills the expanding gap between the two exterior characteristic curves. Inside its fan, and , verifying the Inviscid Burgers equation; its values agree continuously with both exterior states. For to , the fan occupies . If , the solution is constant.[ref]

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