An efficient second-order accurate and continuous interpolation for block-adaptive grids

Abstract

In this paper we present a second-order and continuous interpolation algorithm for cell-centered adaptive-mesh-refinement (AMR) grids. Continuity requirement poses a non-trivial problem at resolution changes. We develop a classification of the resolution changes, which allows us to employ efficient and simple linear interpolation in the majority of the computational domain. The algorithm is well suited for massively parallel computations. Our interpolation algorithm allows extracting jump-free interpolated data distribution along lines and surfaces within the computational domain. This capability is important for various applications, including kinetic particles tracking in three dimensional vector fields, visualization (i.e. surface extraction) and extracting variables along one-dimensional curves such as field lines, streamlines and satellite trajectories, etc. Particular examples are models for acceleration of solar energetic particles (SEPs) along magnetic field-lines. As such models are sensitive to sharp gradients and discontinuities the capability to interpolate the data from the AMR grid to be passed to the SEP model without producing false gradients numerically becomes crucial. We provide a complete description of the algorithm and make the code publicly available as a Fortran 90 library.