Comparisons between Observations, Simulation Outputs, and Analytic Predictions for an Accelerating Solar Wind over CR2040 and CR2144

We present a detailed comparison between Tasnim et al., 2018's accelerating solar wind model, observational data, and outputs of the Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF). The three dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation combines a BATS-R-US (Block-Adaptive-Tree-Solarwind-Roe- Upwind-Scheme) simulation with a Comprehensive Ring Current Model. We extract the SWMF outputs in the solar equatorial plane for two solar rotation periods: CR2040 (Febuary 15 to March 8, 2006) and CR2144 (November 21 to December 19, 2013). We compare them with the analytic model's predictions in which the data driven solar Wind model drives the 1 AU data towards the source surface. Long run time and higher order initial grid refinement allow the simulation to relax to solar wind variables that exhibit better agreement between observations and data-driven predictions. The current version of the SWMF simulation code includes two different numerical models that treat the solar corona (SC) and the inner heliosphere (IH) separately. Simulated variables from the IH module agree rather well with analytic predictions unlike the SC module's outputs. Overall, analytic predictions for radial and azimuthal magnetic field components ( B_r and B_Φ) have much better agreement with the simulated plasma quantities than the number density ( n_i), velocities ( v_r and v_ɸ ), and temperature ( T_i). The simulation outputs do show the existence of spiral structures in the magnetohydrodynamical variables, but the analytic solution predicts more structure than is present in the simulation. The data-driven solar wind model interprets the non-radial intrinsic velocities and magnetic fields in terms of convective cell motions on the photosphere, unlike the simulation that does not include convective cells in the numerical model. Radial probes of the plasma quantities along a plasma fluxtube show gross agreement with the analytic radial probes.