A relaxation Riemann solver for compressible two-phase flow with phase transition and surface tension

The dynamics of two-phase flows depend crucially on interfacial effects like surface tension and phase transition. A numerical method for compressible inviscid flows is proposed that accounts in particular for these two effects. The approach relies on the solution of Riemann-like problems across the interface that separates the liquid and the vapour phase. Since the analytical solutions of the Riemann problems are only known in particular cases an approximative Riemann solver for arbitrary settings is constructed. The approximative solutions rely on the relaxation technique.The local well-posedness of the approximative solver is proven. Finally we present numerical experiments for radially symmetric configurations that underline the reliability and efficiency of the numerical scheme.