Abstract
Consider the fluid dynamic limit problem for the Broadwell system of the kinetic theory of gases, for Riemann, Maxwellian initial data. The formal limit is the Riemann problem for a pair of conservation laws and is invariant under dilations of coordinates. The approach of self-similar fluid dynamic limits consists in replacing the mean free path in the Broadwell model so that the resulting problem preserves the invariance under dilations. The limiting procedure was justified in ST. Here, we study the structure of the emerging solutions. We show that they consist of two wave fans separated by a constant state. Each wave fan is associated with one of the characteristic fields and is either a rarefaction wave or a shock wave. The shocks satisfy the Lax shock conditions and have the internal structure of a Broadwell shock profile.