A node-centered local refinement algorithm for Poisson’s equation in complex geometries

This paper presents a method for solving Poisson’s equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions on an irregular bounded three-dimensional region. The method uses a nodal-point discretization and adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) on Cartesian grids, and the AMR multigrid solver of Almgren. The discrete Laplacian operator at internal boundaries comes from either linear or quadratic (Shortley–Weller) extrapolation, and the two methods are compared. It is shown that either way, solution error is second order in the mesh spacing. Error in the gradient of the solution is first order with linear extrapolation, but second order with Shortley–Weller. Examples are given with comparison with the exact solution. The method is also applied to a heavy-ion fusion accelerator problem, showing the advantage of adaptivity. Published by Elsevier Inc. PACS: 65N06; 65N55; 78M20