Abstract
J.Comput.Phys.203:422-448,2005 We present a second-order Godunov algorithm for multidimensional, ideal MHD.
Our algorithm is based on the unsplit formulation of Colella (J. Comput. Phys.
vol. 87, 1990), with all of the primary dependent variables centered at the
same location. To properly represent the divergence-free condition of the
magnetic fields, we apply a discrete projection to the intermediate values of
the field at cell faces, and apply a filter to the primary dependent variables
at the end of each time step. We test the method against a suite of linear and
nonlinear tests to ascertain accuracy and stability of the scheme under a
variety of conditions. The test suite includes rotated planar linear waves, MHD
shock tube problems, low-beta flux tubes, and a magnetized rotor problem. For
all of these cases, we observe that the algorithm is second-order accurate for
smooth solutions, converges to the correct weak solution for problems involving
shocks, and exhibits no evidence of instability or loss of accuracy due to the
possible presence of non-solenoidal fields.