Consistency of finite volume approximations to nonlinear hyperbolic balance laws

This paper addresses the three concepts of consistency, stability and convergence in the context of compact finite volume schemes for systems of nonlinear hyperbolic conservation laws. The treatment utilizes the framework of ``balance laws''. Such laws express the relevant physical conservation laws in the presence of discontinuities. Finite volume approximations employ this viewpoint, and the present paper can be regarded as being in this category. It is first shown that under very mild conditions a weak solution is indeed a solution to the balance law. The schemes considered here allow the computation of several quantities per mesh cell (e.g., slopes) and the notion of consistency must be extended to this framework. Then a suitable convergence theorem is established, generalizing the classical convergence theorem of Lax and Wendroff. Finally, the limit functions are shown to be entropy solutions by using a notion of ``Godunov compatibility'', which serves as a substitute to the entropy condition.