For , , so the characteristic speed is and the conservation law flux is strictly convex. Let and let be the initial vertical position of a characteristic curve.
For the increasing ramp, the characteristic curves within its sloping part satisfy . They spread apart and never cross. The outer plateau characteristic speeds are and , so the complete entropy solution is
The transition widens linearly and its gradient decreases. At large time it approaches a rarefaction wave, with inside its expanding transition.
For the decreasing ramp, and the characteristic curves converge. Before they meet,
All the ramp characteristic curves meet at at
Thereafter a stationary sedimentation shock separates below from above. Indeed the Rankine-Hugoniot condition gives
and the incoming characteristic speeds satisfy , which makes it an admissible entropy shock. The discontinuity transports no net excess particle flux because both plateau fluxes equal . These are local solutions before a finite container's boundaries affect the transition.
Figure 1.
Spreading and shock formation for quadratic hindered-settling flux
. Details.
The dependence on is controlled by the hindered-settling flux inflection:
For any smooth initial profile, the characteristic flow map has derivative
This formula gives the first characteristic crossing: minimize the positive values of . At neither ramp changes shape; both move down at . For , the flux is convex throughout : the increasing ramp spreads and the decreasing ramp steepens, although its entire ramp generally no longer focuses simultaneously. For , the flux is concave throughout that interval and these roles reverse. At the endpoint values the curvature vanishes at one plateau; it does not reverse sign inside the interval.
For , the inflection lies between the plateau concentrations. Below the increasing ramp spreads, while above it that ramp compresses; the decreasing ramp has the opposite local behavior. After characteristic crossing, the entropy solution can contain both a shock wave and a rarefaction wave. Quantitatively, an increasing step is selected by the lower convex envelope of on the interval between its states: curved portions supply rarefaction waves, and straight portions supply shock waves. A decreasing step uses the upper concave envelope. A join between a fan and a shock wave at a state satisfies the tangent-chord relation , where is the other shock state. Thus curvature, not simply the magnitude of , decides the wave pattern; the envelope may reduce to one shock if the tangent lies outside the state interval.
Write and . The one-dimensional mass conservation and axial momentum equations consistent with the stated resistance are
In a steady flow, and . Since , the momentum equation becomes
Thus a uniform inlet state continues as a uniform steady solution precisely when
To examine downstream spatial stability of this steady solution, put and linearize. The numerator vanishes at equilibrium, so
Since , the numerator of is positive. The displacement decays as increases exactly when , or
This proves the spatial attraction of a uniform downhill tube flow appropriate to the steady inlet-value problem.
The tube wave speed is , while . The inequality is therefore : the inlet lies on the supercritical tube flow branch, with both inviscid characteristic speeds directed downstream. A subcritical state has a characteristic carrying downstream boundary information upstream; the critical state makes the steady area equation singular unless its forcing also vanishes.
Spatial attraction must not be confused with temporal stability. The stated hypotheses do not guarantee decay of all time-dependent perturbations. For example, take and a uniform supercritical state. The damping coefficient multiplying is , and for perturbations about area and speed , set . Linearizing the two evolution equations gives
Its small- branch is , which grows when . This is a friction-induced instability of a collapsible-tube flow. Consequently the advertised stability is valid as downstream stability of the steady solution; an unrestricted temporal-stability claim would require further assumptions.
The undisturbed reservoir remains at , , while the particle budget gives . The edge of the rarefaction wave advancing into that reservoir travels with the local left-running characteristic speed, . Thus
This is the disturbance head into the initially resting reservoir, also called the leading edge of the rarefaction wave; it reduces to as . The rightmost fan/shelf junction is the rarefaction tail, not this reservoir edge. Its trajectory in the full sedimenting system cannot be obtained by retaining the constant-buoyancy Riemann invariants.
For the requested near-front approximation, hold fixed and take the shelf's concentration initially to be . The locally uniform shelf approximation gives , so
This tends to at small settling and predicts a finite limiting front location within the fixed-depth closure. It is not an exact solution of the spatially varying variable-buoyancy shallow water equations: different material histories and resulting buoyancy gradients eventually invalidate a perfectly uniform shelf. No exact finite-time stoppage is claimed.
The Engquist-Osher method is an upwind finite volume method. For cell values , mesh width and time step , put and use the conservative update
where the numerical flux is
Consistency of a numerical method follows from . Positive characteristic speeds use the left state, and negative speeds use the right state. The flux difference telescopes when summed over cells, giving a discrete conservation law. The method is first order in space and time for smooth solutions; its conservation law form is also appropriate when shock waves develop.
Let be the unique sonic point of a scalar flux, . Convexity implies to its left and to its right. Put and split
Then , , , and
This is the sonic-point splitting of a convex Engquist-Osher flux. If both states are above , ; if both are below it, . Across a transsonic rarefaction wave, , the flux is the minimum . In the opposite crossing it is , which in general differs from the exact Godunov numerical flux. This distinction does not affect the monotonicity proof.
Here stability requires the usual Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy condition. Let the initial values lie in , and choose
A differentiable convex function has a continuous derivative on this interval, so the maximum is finite. Write the three-input update as . Differentiating gives
Thus the update preserves componentwise order. Constants are fixed, since , so comparison with the constants proves for every time level. In particular the same CFL condition remains applicable. This is a mesh-independent maximum-principle stability bound.
A stronger stability statement is contraction in discrete . Consider two solutions in the same invariant interval, on a periodic mesh or on the infinite lattice with summable differences. Let be their componentwise maximum. Monotonicity gives , hence
The discrete conservation law for the difference gives the equality: on a finite periodic mesh the flux sum cancels exactly, and on the infinite lattice it follows by truncation and the fact that the flux is a Lipschitz function on . Interchanging and adding proves
This is L1 contraction of a monotone conservative scheme. Since commutes with the cell shift, applying this contraction to and its shift gives . The scheme is therefore a total variation diminishing scheme as well.
The same order argument proves a discrete entropy inequality, explaining why this stable discretization selects entropy solutions rather than nonphysical expansion shock waves. For a constant , set
Because and , their componentwise difference is at least . Subtracting their updates gives
For constants outside , the entropy inequality is an equality by the invariant bound and the conservative update. At equal states , the Kruzhkov entropy flux. The flux is a Lipschitz function on the invariant interval: writing , the conservative update gives . This time-translation bound, the invariant bound and the total variation estimate give local space-time compactness for bounded-variation initial conditions as the mesh is refined; the conservative update passes to the weak conservation law, and the displayed inequality passes to its Kruzhkov entropy inequality. This identifies the limit as the entropy solution.
Finally the time-step qualification is essential. For the convex Inviscid Burgers equation flux , whose unique sonic point of a scalar flux is zero, linearize about a positive constant . The perturbation update becomes . At Fourier frequency its multiplier is , with modulus greater than one if . Wave packets near this phase give linear instability even for summable Cauchy perturbations. Thus the assumptions on imply the stability results above under the CFL condition, not for arbitrary . This is CFL necessity for explicit Engquist-Osher stability.
Interpret as the ambient density: the PDF's phrase assigning it a “depth” is a typographical error. Take , and use a common reference density in inertia while retaining the density difference in buoyancy. This is the Boussinesq approximation, with reduced gravity . For the shallow water approximation, the lower-layer depth must be small compared with longitudinal variation scales, vertical accelerations must be negligible and pressure hydrostatic. The deep ambient is approximated as a hydrostatic pressure reservoir away from the nose; assume a uniform velocity over each lower-layer cross-section and neglect drag and entrainment.
Write the prismatic triangular area as with fixed , so the width at height is . The excess hydrostatic pressure force divided by reference density is
The prismatic-channel shallow water equations are therefore
For positive depth, divide the first equation by and use it in the second to obtain
The coefficient matrix in variables is . Its two distinct real characteristic speeds are
Thus the system is strictly hyperbolic for and , though it degenerates at zero depth. Since , direct substitution in the two equations gives
Hence are the Riemann invariants conserved along their respective characteristic curves. The factor four, rather than the rectangular-channel factor two, comes from the triangular relation .
The layer equations describe long-wave adjustment behind the nose, but do not resolve the short region where the dense fluid pushes aside the ambient. A finite-height front cannot be determined by simply adjoining a vacuum solution of the one-layer momentum equation. The ambient pressure and turning flow provide additional nose physics.
In the nose frame, the material condition makes the adjacent current velocity equal to the front speed in the laboratory frame. The two interior characteristic speeds relative to that front are then : one characteristic brings information from the body and one brings a boundary condition from the nose. This is why a gravity-current front condition is needed. With a deep ambient, fixed channel shape and negligible viscosity, the local buoyancy depth supplies the velocity scale . A dimensionless closure therefore has the form
where a constant is an idealization for a fixed geometry and chosen nose model. Dimensional analysis identifies the form but does not determine the coefficient.
Figure 1.
Nose-fixed control volume and triangular cross-section for a gravity-current front condition
. Details.
To determine an appropriate coefficient theoretically, take a control volume moving with the nose and bounded by sections far enough ahead and behind for hydrostatic pressure and approximately uniform section velocities to apply. Use the actual triangular wetted areas and integrated pressures. Conservation of fluid volume fixes the ambient return-flow velocities; integrated horizontal momentum balances the incoming and outgoing momentum fluxes against the pressure forces. A Bernoulli relation on an ambient streamline, with an explicit nose-loss assumption if needed, supplies the pressure or energy closure. The density-anomaly pressure contribution of the lower layer contains the integral derived above. Solving those balances gives and hence .
Alternatively, measured front speeds and consistently defined adjacent heights in a geometrically similar experiment can calibrate the closure. A rectangular-channel numerical coefficient must not be transferred to a triangular channel without checking those balances. The height definition and dissipative nose structure also matter; a primary study of gravity-current front conditions explains why different height conventions can lead to different inferred coefficients. No numerical value of is required for the following solution.
Use the conventional kinematic plume fluxes
Then is the volume flux, the dimensional mass flux, the dimensional momentum flux, and the kinematic buoyancy flux. Calling a mass flux uses a density-normalized convention: the reference density has been suppressed. If density-weighted momentum and buoyancy fluxes are desired, multiply and by the same constant throughout. Here the conventional kinematic definitions make the Boussinesq approximation explicit.
For an upward plume with , the inverse relations are
The volume conservation, vertical momentum conservation, and buoyancy balances from part a become
Here the vertical momentum conservation equation uses in the inertia and retains in the buoyancy force. The ambient has no imposed vertical momentum at entrainment.
To classify the resulting partial differential equations, work in the nonsingular primitive variables with . Subtract times the volume equation from the momentum equation and times the volume equation from the buoyancy equation. This gives
The principal matrix is therefore
All three characteristic speeds are real and equal to , so the model is a hyperbolic system if that term means only reality of the characteristic roots. However, for , requires , leaving only two independent eigenvectors. Hence
This weak hyperbolicity of the unsteady top-hat plume prevents a complete set of independent characteristic fields. For example, freezing in the homogeneous principal part gives and . A Fourier perturbation of wave number therefore produces a term proportional to in . Real characteristic roots alone do not provide uniform control of high-frequency perturbations. The flux-variable transformation above is invertible in the stated region, so changing to does not remove this degeneracy.
Write , and . The isothermal equation of state replaces the adiabatic thermal equation by . Since the fields depend only on , the solenoidal constraint gives and the component of the ideal magnetohydrodynamic induction equation gives . Hence is constant in both space and time.
The continuity, two momentum and transverse induction equations are
Here is the transverse magnetic component and the constant is the longitudinal component. The longitudinal magnetic force is the gradient of transverse magnetic pressure; the transverse force is magnetic tension. In primitive variables the isothermal coplanar magnetohydrodynamic characteristic matrix is
The imposed components stay zero because their corresponding equations have zero right-hand sides under this reduction.
Let be a characteristic speed relative to the fluid and define the Alfvén velocity . To derive the characteristic polynomial, an eigenvector with components obeys
Eliminating and on a nondegenerate branch gives
Their consistency yields . Equivalently, direct expansion of gives the same polynomial without dividing by or a possibly vanishing field component:
Thus
The discriminant is , and both squared speeds are nonnegative. These are the fast magnetosonic wave and slow magnetosonic wave families, transported with the mean flow. The equations are hyperbolic; on a generic state the four distinct real eigenvalues give four characteristic directions. Special field alignments can make speeds coincide or the slow speed vanish. There is no separate entropy characteristic because the thermal model is isothermal, and the independent out-of-plane Alfvén wave polarization is excluded by .
To construct a simple wave in magnetohydrodynamics, take along a state-space curve whose tangent is a right eigenvector of one selected branch:
Substitution into the partial differential equations then gives the scalar transport equation
Such curves exist locally by integrating the eigenvector field away from degeneracies. For example, parameterizing by where its eigenvector density component is nonzero gives the explicit state-curve equations
with signed equal to one of the four relative wave speeds. These formulas are used only where their denominators are nonzero.
A particularly transparent nonlinear example is an isothermal perpendicular magnetosonic simple wave. Set the allowed constant , choose and keep constant. For the fast branch,
These relations satisfy the eigenvector equations and therefore all four original equations whenever
The amplitude-dependent characteristic speed has derivative
This already proves the existence of genuinely nonlinear waves in the stated system.
More generally, the method of characteristics applied to initial data gives
If the initial speed decreases towards increasing somewhere, the denominator reaches zero in finite time. When the negative minimum is attained, the first steepening time is
Faster trailing states catch slower leading states, giving shock formation by characteristic intersection. For the right-moving perpendicular fast example, a negative density gradient provides such a compression. Beyond a smooth simple wave is no longer sufficient and an appropriate shock solution is required. Rarefactive profiles instead spread. A linearly degenerate characteristic field has along its state curve and avoids this mechanism; the conclusion is that compressive nonlinear magnetosonic simple waves steepen, not that every possible MHD waveform must do so.
Assume the shallow-water approximation: the horizontal scale is long compared with the depth, the hydrostatic approximation applies, and the cross-section-averaged velocity is approximately uniform. Neglect viscosity and drag for this part. Volume conservation gives the constant discharge . The steady horizontal momentum equation is
so its integral is the Bernoulli equation head . The shallow-water specific energy measured above the bed is therefore
The Froude number compares the flow velocity with the long-wave speed :
At fixed , the shallow-water specific energy tends to infinity as tends to zero or infinity. Its unique minimum occurs at the critical depth
The two depth branches above that minimum are subcritical flow, with , and supercritical flow, with . The long-wave characteristic speeds relative to the bed are . Thus a subcritical flow can receive information from downstream, whereas both characteristic curves travel downstream in a positive supercritical flow.
A hydraulic control is a critical section where one characteristic speed vanishes and a smooth flow can pass between the two branches. Regularity there supplies a condition relating , the depth and the geometry; together with reservoir or inlet data, it can determine the discharge. Merely finding is not enough: a finite depth gradient also requires the geometric forcing to vanish in the critical momentum equation.
For the state vector , the primitive equations are , with
The characteristic polynomial is
Consequently the three characteristic speeds are
For and , the hyperbolic system has three distinct real eigenvalues. The long-wave speed relative to the current is , while transports a buoyancy/contact disturbance.
A left eigenvector for the material characteristic is , giving
For , left eigenvectors can be chosen as
Multiplying by these rows gives the characteristic compatibility for an entraining triangular-channel current. With all differentials evaluated along the indicated characteristic,
The source follows directly from and .
Since , an equivalent form is
Combining it with the material buoyancy equation also gives
Only when entrainment vanishes and is spatially constant do become constant Riemann invariants on these characteristic curves. Dropping the buoyancy differential in the general problem would lose one of the required transport couplings. The characteristic formulas with apply to the nondegenerate region ; dry or neutrally buoyant limits require their conservative form instead.
Hindered settling is the reduction of the particle settling velocity by displaced-fluid backflow and interactions with other particles. In the specified model, the downward speed is at vanishing concentration and falls to zero at the maximum packing fraction . The characteristic speed of a concentration disturbance will differ from this individual-particle speed.
Take positive upwards. For a locally uniform horizontal suspension without diffusion or bulk fluid motion, the upward particle flux is
Particle volume conservation gives the scalar conservation law
This is the quadratic hindered-settling flux. Along its characteristic curves,
For a smooth initial profile , the map is . Its Jacobian is . A shock develops where this first reaches zero: the compressive condition is , and
when the minimum is negative and no earlier boundary discontinuity is imposed. A discontinuous compressive initial state can instead contain a shock from .
Let separate states below the shock and above it. Integrating the conservation law across a moving thin interval gives the Rankine-Hugoniot condition
Equivalently, the flux relative to the shock agrees on both sides. For this quadratic flux,
Since , a physical compression shock has and satisfies : characteristic curves enter it from both sides. These conditions select the shock over a nonphysical expansive discontinuity.
Use the upward coordinate of the preceding kinematic sedimentation calculation, with the given smooth profile on and clear fluid above. This asks for the first characteristic breaking of that profile; a separately imposed packed-bed discontinuity would be a different boundary problem.
Substitution of the initial concentration into the characteristic speed gives
The characteristic Jacobian is
It first vanishes at the upper edge . That edge has zero concentration and descends initially at , so
Although the derivative of the initial profile jumps to zero in the clear region, the concentration itself is continuous there. The shock starts with vanishing amplitude. Both limiting concentrations at onset are zero, and the Rankine-Hugoniot condition consequently gives
This is a downward speed .
After formation the upper state remains clear, , and the lower state is positive. The parabolic-profile sedimentation shock has
It therefore initially slows down in magnitude: its signed upward-coordinate speed increases from . One can also verify that its captured left state increases. Write , where labels the incident lower characteristic. Conservation of the particle volume initially above that characteristic gives
The derivative of the right-hand side with respect to is . Thus decreases as time increases, and increases. The downward shock speed continues to decrease on this branch until a bed or another boundary interacts with it. No later boundary behavior is needed for the requested conclusion.
Assume the ambient fluid has zero downslope velocity, no bed drag, and an entrainment coefficient . The entraining shallow-water layer receives volume at rate , but neither excess buoyancy nor downslope momentum from that ambient fluid. Consequently volume conservation, conservation of excess buoyancy, and momentum conservation give
The pressure contribution is the integral of the hydrostatic pressure from part (a). The last source is the downslope component of the gravitational force.
With , the equivalent equations are
The last term is the momentum required to accelerate newly entrained fluid. For variables , the matrix of the spatial derivatives is
Thus it is a strictly hyperbolic system for and . At all three characteristic speeds coincide and the matrix is not diagonalizable. The exclusion of that angle presumes the physical range with : allowing an overhanging channel with would also destroy hyperbolicity.
Treat the channel as prismatic, with horizontal bottom datum , uniform cross-sectional velocity, and surface height . The area and depth-integrated hydrostatic pressure force divided by density are
The prismatic-channel shallow water equations are
Since , they become
Their two characteristic speeds are . Using gives the Riemann invariants
The factor replaces the familiar for a rectangular channel. It comes from the depth-dependent width, not from a different gravitational acceleration.
Write and . In this geometry the Lorentz force density is purely longitudinal and equals . The ideal magnetohydrodynamic induction equation becomes . Together with the continuity equation and adiabatic pressure evolution, the four primitive-variable equations are
They have the required quasilinear form with
Here the notation in derivatives means , whereas denotes the longitudinal velocity. Spatial dependence is one-dimensional; time dependence is allowed in the wave problem.
Put , and assume and . Expansion of the characteristic polynomial gives
Two independent eigenvectors for can be chosen as and . For the two propagating branches, useful eigenvectors are
The repeated branch advects an entropy disturbance and a disturbance with unchanged total gas-plus-magnetic pressure. The branches are perpendicular fast magnetosonic waves, with speed relative to the fluid.
On a uniform background, a Fourier amplitude obeys . Thus the eigenvalues are the phase velocities for , and the four dispersion branches are twice and . The reduced geometry retains neither an independent transverse velocity nor an additional propagating Alfvén wave.
To construct each finite-amplitude simple wave in magnetohydrodynamics, trace a state-space curve with tangent , using as its parameter. Integrating the pressure and magnetic components gives
The constants and are the entropy and transverse magnetic flux freezing invariants along this state curve. Hence
Since , substituting this curve into the original system reduces it to . By the chain rule,
Thus the characteristic speed itself satisfies the Inviscid Burgers equation. For initial speed , its smooth solution is along , until the characteristic curves intersect. This derivation supplies genuine state curves for simple waves, not merely a linear dispersion relation.
Write the negative-flux Inviscid Burgers equation as , with . Along a characteristic curve,
so a characteristic starting at has and
This formula is a classical solution only while the method of characteristics is one-to-one; after characteristic crossing one must select an entropy solution.
For a discontinuity with left and right values and , the Rankine-Hugoniot condition follows by integrating conservation across a moving small interval:
For a nonzero jump, factor the difference of squares to obtain
The negative flux makes increasing jumps compressive. Decreasing jumps spread into rarefaction waves; they cannot be retained as nonphysical expansion shock waves.
In the central ramp of each period, , so its method of characteristics is . For , the retained ramp therefore occupies . At the odd boundary , the initial limiting values are on the left and on the right. Their characteristic speeds are and , giving the fan on . Together these give the periodic backward-sawtooth Burgers solution
These intervals tile the real line up to their matching endpoints, where both formulas agree at . The increasing ramp steepens, but the wave's maximum magnitude remains one before breaking. A steep continuous regularization of the original downward jump produces exactly the limiting fan, as suggested by the characteristic construction.
At , each increasing ramp collapses at . The fans on either side meet there with values and , producing a compressive stationary shock wave. For all the fan between successive shock waves remains centered at the odd point, giving
At a shock wave the limiting values are and . Their average is zero, so the Rankine-Hugoniot condition keeps the shock wave fixed. Their characteristic speeds satisfy , confirming compression into the shock wave. The arbitrary pointwise value at a shock wave does not affect the weak solution. The post-breaking amplitude decays as , despite the lack of explicit viscosity, because shock wave dissipate the wave.
For the requested sketches, has ramp slope on and fan slope around odd points on width . It is still continuous. At , the profile decreases linearly with slope between even points and jumps from to at each even point:
Figure 1.
Periodic Burgers wave before breaking at Z equals one third and after breaking at Z equals three, with stationary shocks at even theta
. Details.