A note on the Riemann solutions to the isentropic Euler equations in the vanishing pressure limit

Abstract: The behaviour of the solutions to the Riemann problem for the isentropic Euler equations when the pressure vanishes is analysed. It is shown that any solution composed of a 1-shock wave and a 2-rarefaction wave tends to a two-shock wave when the pressure gets smaller than a fixed value determined by the Riemann data; by contrast, any solution composed of a 1-rarefaction wave and a 2-shock wave tends to a two-rarefaction wave. The two situations are illustrated with numerical tests.