A high-order CESE scheme with a new divergence-free method for MHD numerical simulation

Abstract In this paper, we give a high-order space–time conservation element and solution element (CESE) method with a most compact stencil for magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) equations. This is the first study to extend the second-order CESE scheme to a high order for MHD equations. In the CESE method, the conservative variables and their spatial derivatives are regarded as the independent marching quantities, making the CESE method significantly different from the finite difference method (FDM) and finite volume method (FVM). To utilize the characteristics of the CESE method to the maximum extent possible, our proposed method based on the least-squares method fundamentally keeps the magnetic field divergence-free. The results of some test examples indicate that this new method is very efficient.