A discontinuous Galerkin finite element discretization of the Euler equations for compressible and incompressible fluids

Using the generalized variable formulation of the Euler equations of fluid dynamics, we develop a numerical method that is capable of simulating the flow of fluids with widely differing thermodynamic behavior: ideal and real gases can be treated with the same method as an incompressible fluid. The well-defined incompressible limit relies on using pressure primitive or entropy variables. In particular entropy variables can provide numerical methods with attractive properties, e.g. fulfillment of the second law of thermodynamics. We show how a discontinuous Galerkin finite element discretization previously used for compressible flow with an ideal gas equation of state can be extended for general fluids. We also examine which components of the numerical method have to be changed or adapted. Especially, we investigate different possibilities of solving the nonlinear algebraic system with a pseudo-time iteration. Numerical results highlight the applicability of the method for various fluids. (c) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.