Entropy Stable Finite Volume Approximations for Ideal Magnetohydrodynamics

This article serves as a summary outlining the mathematical entropy analysis of the ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations. We select the ideal MHD equations as they are particularly useful for mathematically modeling a wide variety of magnetized fluids. In order to be self-contained we first motivate the physical properties of a magnetic fluid and how it should behave under the laws of thermodynamics. Next, we introduce a mathematical model built from hyperbolic partial differential equations (PDEs) that translate physical laws into mathematical equations. After an overview of the continuous analysis, we thoroughly describe the derivation of a numerical approximation of the ideal MHD system that remains consistent to the continuous thermodynamic principles. The derivation of the method and the theorems contained within serve as the bulk of the review article. We demonstrate that the derived numerical approximation retains the correct entropic properties of the continuous model and show its applicability to a variety of standard numerical test cases for MHD schemes. We close with our conclusions and a brief discussion on future work in the area of entropy consistent numerical methods and the modeling of plasmas

A Flux-Differencing Formula for Split-Form Summation By Parts Discretizations of Non-Conservative Systems: Applications to Subcell Limiting for magneto-hydrodynamics

In this paper, we show that diagonal-norm summation by parts (SBP) discretizations of general non-conservative systems of hyperbolic balance laws can be rewritten as a finite-volume-type formula, also known as flux-differencing formula, if the non-conservative terms can be written as the product of a local and a symmetric contribution. Furthermore, we show that the existence of a flux-differencing formula enables the use of recent subcell limiting strategies to improve the robustness of the high-order discretizations. To demonstrate the utility of the novel flux-differencing formula, we construct hybrid schemes that combine high-order SBP methods (the discontinuous Galerkin spectral element method and a high-order SBP finite difference method) with a compatible low-order finite volume (FV) scheme at the subcell level. We apply the hybrid schemes to solve challenging magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) problems featuring strong shocks

Ideal GLM-MHD - a new mathematical model for simulating astrophysical plasmas

Magnetic fields are ubiquitous in space. As there is strong evidence that magnetic fields play an important role in a variety of astrophysical processes, they should not be neglected recklessly. However, analytic models in astrophysical either do often not take magnetic fields into account or can do this after limiting simplifications reducing their overall predictive power. Therefore, computational astrophysics has evolved as a modern field of research using sophisticated computer simulations to gain insight into physical processes. The ideal MHD equations, which are the most often used basis for simulating magnetized plasmas, have two critical drawbacks: Firstly, they do not limit the growth of numerically caused magnetic monopoles, and, secondly, most numerical schemes built from the ideal MHD equations are not conformable with thermodynamics. In my work, at the interplay of math and physics, I developed and presented the first thermodynamically consistent model with effective inbuilt divergence cleaning. My new Galilean-invariant model is suitable for simulating magnetized plasmas under extreme conditions as those typically encountered in astrophysical scenarios. The new model is called the "ideal GLM-MHD" equations and supports nine wave solutions. The accuracy and robustness of my numerical implementation are demonstrated with a number of tests, including comparisons to other schemes available within in the multi-physics, multi-scale adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) simulation code FLASH. A possible astrophysical application scenario is discussed in detail

FISH: A 3D parallel MHD code for astrophysical applications

FISH is a fast and simple ideal magneto-hydrodynamics code that scales to ~10 000 processes for a Cartesian computational domain of ~1000^3 cells. The simplicity of FISH has been achieved by the rigorous application of the operator splitting technique, while second order accuracy is maintained by the symmetric ordering of the operators. Between directional sweeps, the three-dimensional data is rotated in memory so that the sweep is always performed in a cache-efficient way along the direction of contiguous memory. Hence, the code only requires a one-dimensional description of the conservation equations to be solved. This approach also enable an elegant novel parallelisation of the code that is based on persistent communications with MPI for cubic domain decomposition on machines with distributed memory. This scheme is then combined with an additional OpenMP parallelisation of different sweeps that can take advantage of clusters of shared memory. We document the detailed implementation of a second order TVD advection scheme based on flux reconstruction. The magnetic fields are evolved by a constrained transport scheme. We show that the subtraction of a simple estimate of the hydrostatic gradient from the total gradients can significantly reduce the dissipation of the advection scheme in simulations of gravitationally bound hydrostatic objects. Through its simplicity and efficiency, FISH is as well-suited for hydrodynamics classes as for large-scale astrophysical simulations on high-performance computer clusters. In preparation for the release of a public version, we demonstrate the performance of FISH in a suite of astrophysically orientated test cases.Comment: 27 pages, 11 figure

Trinity: A Unified Treatment of Turbulence, Transport, and Heating in Magnetized Plasmas

To faithfully simulate ITER and other modern fusion devices, one must resolve electron and ion fluctuation scales in a five-dimensional phase space and time. Simultaneously, one must account for the interaction of this turbulence with the slow evolution of the large-scale plasma profiles. Because of the enormous range of scales involved and the high dimensionality of the problem, resolved first-principles global simulations are very challenging using conventional (brute force) techniques. In this thesis, the problem of resolving turbulence is addressed by developing velocity space resolution diagnostics and an adaptive collisionality that allow for the confident simulation of velocity space dynamics using the approximate minimal necessary dissipation. With regard to the wide range of scales, a new approach has been developed in which turbulence calculations from multiple gyrokinetic flux tube simulations are coupled together using transport equations to obtain self-consistent, steady-state background profiles and corresponding turbulent fluxes and heating. This approach is embodied in a new code, Trinity, which is capable of evolving equilibrium profiles for multiple species, including electromagnetic effects and realistic magnetic geometry, at a fraction of the cost of conventional global simulations. Furthermore, an advanced model physical collision operator for gyrokinetics has been derived and implemented, allowing for the study of collisional turbulent heating, which has not been extensively studied. To demonstrate the utility of the coupled flux tube approach, preliminary results from Trinity simulations of the core of an ITER plasma are presented.Comment: 187 pages, 53 figures, Ph.D. thesis in physics at University of Maryland, single-space versio