Higher order divergence-free and curl-free interpolation on MAC grids

Divergence-free vector fields and curl-free vector fields play an important role in many types of problems, including the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, Maxwell's equations, the equations for magnetohydrodynamics, and surface reconstruction. In practice, these fields are often obtained by projection, resulting in a discrete approximation of the continuous field that is discretely divergence-free or discretely curl-free. This field can then be interpolated to non-grid locations, which is required for many algorithms such as particle tracing or semi-Lagrangian advection. This interpolated field will not generally be divergence-free or curl-free in the analytic sense. In this work, we assume these fields are stored on a MAC grid layout and that the divergence and curl operators are discretized using finite differences. This work builds on and extends [39] in multiple ways: (1) we design a divergence-free interpolation scheme that preserves the discrete flux, (2) we adapt the general construction of divergence-free fields into a general construction for curl-free fields, (3) we extend the framework to a more general class of finite difference discretizations, and (4) we use this flexibility to construct fourth-order accurate interpolation schemes for the divergence-free case and the curl-free case. All of the constructions and specific schemes are explicit piecewise polynomials over a local neighborhood. •We develop divergence-free and curl-free interpolation schemes on a uniform grid.•We present a general construction for curl-free interpolation schemes.•We extend the general construction to more general differencing stencils.•We construct fourth order accurate divergence-free and curl-free interpolation schemes.•The schemes are local, piecewise polynomial, and continuous.