Nonlinear projection methods for multi-entropies Navier--Stokes systems

This paper is devoted to the numerical approximation of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations with several independent entropies. Various models for complex compressible materials typically enter the proposed framework. The striking novelty over the usual Navier-Stokes equations stems from the generic impossibility of recasting equivalently the present system in full conservation form. Classical finite volume methods are shown to grossly fail in the capture of viscous shock solutions that are of primary interest in the present work. To enforce for validity a set of generalized jump conditions that we introduce, we propose a systematic and effective correction procedure, the so-called nonlinear projection method, and prove that it preserves all the stability properties satisfied by suitable Godunov-type methods. Numerical experiments assess the relevance of the method when exhibiting approximate solutions in close agreement with exact solutions.