Radially symmetric non-isentropic Euler flows: Continuous blowup with positive pressure

Abstract

We establish the existence of radial self-similar Euler flows in which a continuous incoming wave generates a blowup of primary (undifferentiated) flow variables. A key point is that the solutions have a strictly positive pressure field, in contrast to Guderley's classic construction of converging shock waves. In Guderley's solutions, a converging shock invades a quiescent region at zero pressure (due to vanishing temperature), and the velocity and pressure in its immediate wake become unbounded at the time of collapse. It is reasonable that the lack of upstream counter-pressure is conducive to large speeds, with concomitant large amplitudes. Based on Guderley's original solutions, it is therefore unclear if it is the zero-pressure region that is responsible for blowup. The same applies to self-similar Euler flows describing radial cavity flow. Our results demonstrate that the geometric mechanism of wave focusing is sufficiently strong on its own to drive unbounded growth. We propagate the solution beyond blowup and observe numerically that there are two distinct possibilities depending on the incoming flow: either an expanding spherical shock wave is generated, or the flow propagates in a continuous manner. Focusing on the former case, we show that the resulting flows define global admissible weak solutions to the full, multi-d compressible Euler system. These solutions have the unusual property that the flow is isentropic in each of the two regions separated by the shock.