Free-stream preserving finite difference schemes for ideal magnetohydrodynamics on curvilinear meshes (Q2291945)

Exact solution of the magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) equations preserves zero divergence for the magnetic field in future time if the initial divergence is zero. Standard numerical discretizations based on shock capturing methods do not propagate a discrete version of the divergence-free condition forward in time. In this paper, the authors develop a free-stream preserving weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) finite difference scheme on curvilinear meshes (generalized coordinate system). Using an alternative formulation of the finite difference WENO method, a novel WENO method is developed for the constrained transport equation or Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ) equation, which preserves the free-stream condition of ideal MHD equation on the generalized coordinate systems. The divergence error of the magnetic field is controlled in a constrained transport framework. The HJ equations are solved by combining the standard WENO approximation on lattice meshes with a general Lax-Friedrichs type monotone Hamiltonian. Numerical benchmark problems confirm that the standard finite-difference WENO schemes have a rather large error, while the proposed WENO schemes can simulate the solution well for all grids. Extensive numerical examples on several MHD equations like field loop, rotor problem blast wave, bow shock flow, demonstrate the free-stream preservation performance.