A low Mach two-speed relaxation scheme for the compressible Euler equations with gravity

Abstract: We present a numerical approximation of the solutions of the Euler equations with a gravitational source term. On the basis of a Suliciu type relaxation model with two relaxation speeds, we construct an approximate Riemann solver, which is used in a first order Godunov-type finite volume scheme. This scheme can preserve both stationary solutions and the low Mach limit to the corresponding incompressible equations. In addition, we prove that our scheme preserves the positivity of density and internal energy, that it is entropy satisfying and also guarantees not to give rise to numerical checkerboard modes in the incompressible limit. Later we give an extension to second order that preserves positivity, asymptotic-preserving and well-balancing properties. Finally, the theoretical properties are investigated in numerical experiments.