A new thermodynamically compatible finite volume scheme for Lagrangian gas dynamics

Abstract

The equations of Lagrangian gas dynamics fall into the larger class of overdetermined hyperbolic and thermodynamically compatible (HTC) systems of partial differential equations. They satisfy an entropy inequality (second principle of thermodynamics) and conserve total energy (first principle of thermodynamics). The aim of this work is to construct a novel thermodynamically compatible cell-centered Lagrangian finite volume scheme on unstructured meshes. Unlike in existing schemes, we choose to directly discretize the entropy inequality, hence obtaining total energy conservation as a consequence of the new thermodynamically compatible discretization of the other equations. First, the governing equations are written in fluctuation form. Next, the non-compatible centered numerical fluxes are corrected according to the approach recently introduced by Abgrall et al., using a scalar correction factor that is defined at the nodes of the grid. This perfectly fits into the formalism of nodal solvers which is typically adopted in cell-centered Lagrangian finite volume methods. Semi-discrete entropy conservative and entropy stable Lagrangian schemes are devised, and they are adequately blended together via a convex combination based on either a priori or a posteriori detectors of discontinuous solutions. The nonlinear stability in the energy norm is rigorously demonstrated and the new schemes are provably positivity preserving for density and pressure. Furthermore, they exhibit zero numerical diffusion for isentropic flows while being still nonlinearly stable. The new schemes are tested against classical benchmarks for Lagrangian hydrodynamics, assessing their convergence and robustness and comparing their numerical dissipation with classical Lagrangian finite volume methods.