Contact discontinuities for 2-D inviscid compressible flows in infinitely long nozzles

Abstract

We prove the existence of a subsonic weak solution $({\bf u}, \rho, p)$ to steady Euler system in a two-dimensional infinitely long nozzle when prescribing the value of the entropy $(= \frac{p}{\rho^{\gamma}})$ at the entrance by a piecewise $C^2$ function with a discontinuity at a point. Due to the variable entropy condition with a discontinuity at the entrance, the corresponding solution has a nonzero vorticity and contains a contact discontinuity $x_2=g_D(x_1)$. We construct such a solution via Helmholtz decomposition. The key step is to decompose the Rankine-Hugoniot conditions on the contact discontinuity via Helmholtz decomposition so that the compactness of approximated solutions can be achieved. Then we apply the method of iteration to obtain a piecewise smooth subsonic flow with a contact discontinuity and nonzero vorticity. We also analyze the asymptotic behavior of the solution at far field.