A Symplecticity-preserving Gas-kinetic Scheme for Hydrodynamic Equations under Gravitational Field

Abstract: A well-balanced scheme for a gravitational hydrodynamic system is defined as a scheme which could precisely preserve a hydrostatic isothermal solution. In this paper, we will construct a well-balanced gas-kinetic symplecticity-preserving BGK (SP-BGK) scheme. In order to develop such a scheme, we model the gravitational potential as a piecewise step function with a potential jump at the cell interface. At the same time, the Liouville's theorem and symplecticity preserving property of a Hamiltonian flow have been used in the description of particles penetration, reflection, and deformation through a potential barrier. The use of the symplecticity preserving property for a Hamiltonian flow is crucial in the evaluation of the high-order moments of a gas distribution function when crossing through a potential jump. As far as we know, the SP-BGK method is the first shock capturing Navier-Stokes flow solver with well-balanced property for a gravitational hydrodynamic system. A few theorems will be proved for this scheme, which include the necessity to use an exact Maxwellian for keeping the hydrostatic state, the total mass and energy (the sum of kinetic, thermal, and gravitational ones) conservation, and the well-balanced property to keep a hydrostatic state during particle transport and collision processes. Many numerical examples will be presented to validate the SP-BGK scheme.