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We present a high order, robust, and stable shock-capturing technique for finite element approximations of ideal MHD. The method uses continuous Lagrange polynomials in space and explicit Runge-Kutta schemes in time. The shock-capturing term is based on the residual of MHD which tracks the shock and discontinuity positions, and adds sufficient amount of viscosity to stabilize them. The method is tested up to third order polynomial spaces and an expected fourth-order convergence rate is obtained for smooth problems. Several discontinuous benchmarks such as Orszag-Tang, MHD rotor, Brio-Wu problems are solved in one, two, and three spacial dimensions. Sharp shocks and discontinuity resolutions are obtained.

We show at the PDE level that the monolithic parabolic regularization of the equations of ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is compatible with all the generalized entropies, fulfills the minimum entropy principle, and preserves the positivity of density and internal energy. We then numerically investigate this regularization for the MHD equations using continuous finite elements in space and explicit strong stability preserving Runge–Kutta methods in time. The artificial viscosity coefficient of the regularization term is constructed to be proportional to the entropy residual of MHD. It is shown that the method has a high order of accuracy for smooth problems and captures strong shocks and discontinuities accurately for non-smooth problems.

We present a novel high-order nodal artificial viscosity approach designed for solving Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations. Unlike conventional methods, our approach eliminates the need for ad hoc parameters. The viscosity is mesh-dependent, yet explicit definition of the mesh size is unnecessary. Our method employs a multimesh strategy: the viscosity coefficient is constructed from a linear polynomial space constructed on the fine mesh, corresponding to the nodal values of the finite element approximation space. The residual of MHD is utilized to introduce high-order viscosity in a localized fashion near shocks and discontinuities. This approach is designed to precisely capture and resolve shocks. Then, high-order Runge-Kutta methods are employed to discretize the temporal domain. Through a comprehensive set of challenging test problems, we validate the robustness and high-order accuracy of our proposed approach for solving MHD equations.

Nonlinear conservation laws such as the system of ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations may develop singularities over time. In these situations, viscous regularization is a common approach to regain regularity of the solution. In this paper, we present a new viscous flux to regularize the MHD equations that holds many attractive properties. In particular, we prove that the proposed viscous flux preserves positivity of density and internal energy, satisfies the minimum entropy principle, is consistent with all generalized entropies, and is Galilean and rotationally invariant. We also provide a variation of the viscous flux that conserves angular momentum. To make the analysis more useful for numerical schemes, the divergence of the magnetic field is not assumed to be zero. Using continuous finite elements, we show several numerical experiments, including contact waves and magnetic reconnection.

We introduce a novel structure-preserving method in order to approximate the compressible ideal Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations. This technique addresses the MHD equations using a non-divergence formulation, where the contributions of the magnetic field to the momentum and total mechanical energy are treated as source terms. Our approach uses the Marchuk-Strang splitting technique and involves three distinct components: a compressible Euler solver, a source-system solver, and an update procedure for the total mechanical energy. The scheme allows for significant freedom on the choice of Euler's equation solver, while the magnetic field is discretized using a curl-conforming finite element space, yielding exact preservation of the involution constraints. We prove that the method preserves invariant domain properties, including positivity of density, positivity of internal energy, and the minimum principle of the specific entropy. If the scheme used to solve Euler's equation conserves total energy, then the resulting MHD scheme can be proven to preserve total energy. Similarly, if the scheme used to solve Euler's equation is entropy-stable, then the resulting MHD scheme is entropy stable as well. In our approach, the CFL condition does not depend on magnetosonic wave-speeds, but only on the usual maximum wavespeed from Euler's system. To validate the effectiveness of our method, we solve a variety of ideal MHD problems, showing that the method is capable of delivering second-order accuracy in space for smooth problems, while also offering unconditional robustness in the shock hydrodynamics regime as well.