Section: New Results

High order for the axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium problem

Participants : Holger Heumann, Lukas Drescher [TU Berlin] , Kersten Schmidt [TU Berlin] .

We implemented a higher order finite element method (FEM) for solving numerically axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equilibrium problems. The focus is on high accuracy and the capabilities of high-order FEM implementations for faster calculations. High order FEM for elliptic problems, such as the considered MHD equilibrium problem, is well established and understood. This work uses the hp-FEM software CONCEPTS developed at ETH Zürich/TU Berlin. Further, we developed a novel method for computing accurately the so-called flux surface averages, that are important in transient MHD calculations. This new method circumvents the expensive and very technical computation of line-integrals and fits seamlessly into the high order finite element method. A publication is in preparation.