Accurate computation of contact discontinuities in flows with general equations of state

The evolution of a contact discontinuity in a real fluid flow is particular ly difficult to compute with a conservative scheme. Indeed, Godunov-type sc hemes involve an averaging step which may create an intermediate state with an incorrect pressure. Spurious acoustic waves are then generated. These w aves affect transient simulations as well as implicit time-marching procedu res for steady-state computations. However, a formulation involving the pre ssure as a dependent variable can be used to restore a fast convergence for steady-state computations. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reser ved.