Positivity-preserving and entropy-bounded discontinuous Galerkin method for the chemically reacting, compressible Euler equations. Part I: The one-dimensional case

Abstract: In this paper, we develop a fully conservative, positivity-preserving, and entropy-bounded discontinuous Galerkin scheme for simulating the chemically reacting, compressible Euler equations with complex thermodynamics. The proposed formulation is an extension of the conservative, high-order numerical method previously developed by Johnson and Kercher [J. Comput. Phys., 423 (2020), 109826] that maintains pressure equilibrium between adjacent elements. In this first part of our two-part paper, we focus on the one-dimensional case. Our methodology is rooted in the minimum entropy principle satisfied by entropy solutions to the multicomponent, compressible Euler equations, which was proved by Gouasmi et al. [ESAIM: Math. Model. Numer. Anal., 54 (2020), 373--389] for nonreacting flows. We first show that the minimum entropy principle holds in the reacting case as well. Next, we introduce the ingredients required for the solution to have nonnegative species concentrations, positive density, positive pressure, and bounded entropy. We also discuss how to retain the aforementioned ability to preserve pressure equilibrium between elements. Operator splitting is employed to handle stiff chemical reactions. To guarantee satisfaction of the minimum entropy principle in the reaction step, we develop an entropy-stable discontinuous Galerkin method based on diagonal-norm summation-by-parts operators for solving ordinary differential equations. The developed formulation is used to compute canonical one-dimensional test cases, namely thermal-bubble advection, multicomponent shock-tube flow, and a moving hydrogen-oxygen detonation wave with detailed chemistry. We find that the enforcement of an entropy bound can considerably reduce the large-scale nonlinear instabilities that emerge when only the positivity property is enforced, to an even greater extent than in the monocomponent, calorically perfect case.