Parallel, grid-adaptive approaches for relativistic hydro and magnetohydrodynamics

  • Authors:

  • R. Keppens;Z. Meliani;A. J. van Marle;P. Delmont;A. Vlasis;B. van der Holst

  • Affiliations:

  • Centre for Plasma-Astrophysics, K.U.Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium and FOM-Institute for Plasma Physics Rijnhuizen, P.O. Box 1207, 3430 BE Nieuwegein, The Netherlands and Ast ...;Centre for Plasma-Astrophysics, K.U.Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium;Centre for Plasma-Astrophysics, K.U.Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium;Centre for Plasma-Astrophysics, K.U.Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium;Centre for Plasma-Astrophysics, K.U.Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium;Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA

  • Venue:
  • Journal of Computational Physics
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

Relativistic hydro and magnetohydrodynamics provide continuum fluid descriptions for gas and plasma dynamics throughout the visible universe. We present an overview of state-of-the-art modeling in special relativistic regimes, targeting strong shock-dominated flows with speeds approaching the speed of light. Significant progress in its numerical modeling emerged in the last two decades, and we highlight specifically the need for grid-adaptive, shock-capturing treatments found in several contemporary codes in active use and development. Our discussion highlights one such code, MPI-AMRVAC (Message-Passing Interface-Adaptive Mesh Refinement Versatile Advection Code), but includes generic strategies for allowing massively parallel, block-tree adaptive simulations in any dimensionality. We provide implementation details reflecting the underlying data structures as used in MPI-AMRVAC. Parallelization strategies and scaling efficiencies are discussed for representative applications, along with guidelines for data formats suitable for parallel I/O. Refinement strategies available in MPI-AMRVAC are presented, which cover error estimators in use in many modern AMR frameworks. A test suite for relativistic hydro and magnetohydrodynamics is provided, chosen to cover all aspects encountered in high-resolution, shock-governed astrophysical applications. This test suite provides ample examples highlighting the advantages of AMR in relativistic flow problems.