Non-standard shocks in the Buckley-Leverett equation

Abstract

It is shown how delta shock waves which consist of Dirac delta distributions and classical shocks can be used to construct non-monotone solutions of the Buckley–Leverett equation. These solutions are interpreted using a recent variational definition of delta shock waves in which the Rankine–Hugoniot deficit is explicitly accounted for [6]. The delta shock waves are also limits of approximate solutions constructed using a recent extension of the weak asymptotic method to complex-valued approximations [15]. Finally, it is shown how these non-standard shocks can be fitted together to construct similarity and traveling-wave solutions which are non-monotone, but still admissible in the sense that characteristics either enter or are parallel to the shock trajectories.