Abstracts Astronomy & Space Science

An advanced implicit solver for MHD

by Bogdan Udrea

A new implicit algorithm has been developed for the solution of the time-dependent, viscous and resistive single fluid magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations. The algorithm is based on an approximate Riemann solver for the hyperbolic fluxes and central differencing applied on a staggered grid for the parabolic fluxes. The algorithm employs a locally aligned coordinate system that allows the solution to the Riemann problems to be solved in a natural direction, normal to cell interfaces. The result is an original scheme that is robust and reduces the complexity of the flux formulas. The evaluation of the parabolic fluxes is also implemented using a locally aligned coordinate system, this time on the staggered grid. The implicit formulation employed by WARP3 is a two level scheme that was applied for the first time to the single fluid MHD model. The flux Jacobians that appear in the implicit scheme are evaluated numerically. The linear system that results from the implicit discretization is solved using a robust symmetric Gauss-Seidel method. The code has an explicit mode capability so that implementation and test of new algorithms or new physics can be performed in this simpler mode. Last but not least the code was designed and written to run on parallel computers so that complex, high resolution runs can be per formed in hours rather than days. The code has been benchmarked against analytical and experimental gas dynamics and MHD results. The benchmarks consisted of one-dimensional Riemann problems and diffusion dominated problems, two-dimensional supersonic flow over a wedge, axisymmetric magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thruster simulation and three-dimensional supersonic flow over intersecting wedges and spheromak stability simulation. The code has been proven to be robust and the results of the simulations showed excellent agreement with analytical and experimental results. Parallel performance studies showed that the code performs as expected when run on parallel computers and the speedups obtained were excellent.