An efficient high-resolution shock-capturing scheme for multi-dimensional flows: I. Hydrodynamics

Abstract

Many problems at the forefront of theoretical astrophysics require a treatment of dynamical fluid behavior. We present an efficient high-resolution shock-capturing hydrodynamic scheme designed to study such phenomena. We have implemented a weighted, essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme to fifth order accuracy in space. HLLE approximate Riemann solver is used for the flux computation at cell interface, which does not require spectral decomposition into characteristic waves and so is computationally friendly. For time integration we apply a third order total variation diminishing (TVD) Runge-Kutta scheme. Extensive testing and comparison with schemes that require characteristic decomposition are carried out demonstrating the ability of our scheme to address challenging open questions in astrophysics.