Well-balanced schemes for the Euler equations with gravitation

Well-balanced high-order finite volume schemes are designed to approximate the Euler equations with gravitation. The schemes preserve discrete equilibria, corresponding to a large class of physically stable hydrostatic steady states. Based on a novel local hydrostatic reconstruction, the derived schemes are well-balanced for any consistent numerical flux for the Euler equations. The form of the hydrostatic reconstruction is both very simple and computationally efficient as it requires no analytical or numerical integration. Moreover, as required by many interesting astrophysical scenarios, the schemes are applicable beyond the ideal gas law. Both first- and second-order accurate versions of the schemes and their extension to multi-dimensional equilibria are presented. Several numerical experiments demonstrating the superior performance of the well-balanced schemes, as compared to standard finite volume schemes, are also presented. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.