Pencil Code
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The Pencil Code is a finite-difference code for compressible and resistive Magnetohydrodynamics with high-order derivatives and an explicit computation scheme implemented using Fortran 95 and ANSI C. Due to its modular structure, the code can be used for a large variety of physical setups relevant for e.g. Astrophysics. Many such setups are available as ready-to-run samples.
Methods
The computation scheme is finite-difference and non-conservative; the time integration is implemented as implicit scheme. High-order (4th, 6th, and 10th order, as well as single-sided or upwind) derivatives are available to resolve strong variations on the grid scale. With a set of auto-tests, the correctness of the code is tested on a regular basis. MPI is used for parallelization but the code can also be run non-parallel on a simple PC. There are modules for different time-integration schemes, treatment of shocks, embedded particle dynamics, chemistry, massive parallel I/O, coronal heating[1], etc.
History
The 'Pencil Code' development was started back in 2001 by Axel Brandenburg and Wolfgang Dobler at the 'Turbulence Summer School' at the Helmholtz Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam and continued at the Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics in Freiburg. It was initially used for MHD turbulence simulations[2]. Later, the development was continued by a team of up to several tens of core developers serving some hundreds of users from various branches of science.
References
- ^ Bourdin Ph.-A., Bingert S., Peter H. (2013). "Observationally driven 3D magnetohydrodynamics model of the solar corona above an active region". Astronomy & Astrophysics. Retrieved 2014-07-08.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Brandenburg A., Dobler W. (2002). "Hydromagnetic turbulence in computer simulations". Comp. Phys. Comm. Retrieved 2014-07-08.