Well-balanced methods for computational astrophysics

Abstract

We review well-balanced methods for the faithful approximation of solutions of systems of hyperbolic balance laws that are of interest to computational astrophysics. Well-balanced methods are specialized numerical techniques that guarantee the accurate resolution of non-trivial steady-state solutions, that balance laws prominently feature, and perturbations thereof. We discuss versatile frameworks and techniques for generic systems of balance laws for finite volume and finite difference methods. The principal emphasis of the presentation is on the algorithms and their implementation. Subsequently, we specialize in hydrodynamics’ Euler equations to exemplify the techniques and give an overview of the available well-balanced methods in the literature, including the classic hydrostatic equilibrium and steady adiabatic flows. The performance of the schemes is evaluated on a selection of test problems.