We present an overview of the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), a parallel and efficient algorithm for simulating single-phase and multiphase fluid flows and for incorporating additional physical complexities. The LBM is especially useful for modeling complicated boundary conditions and multiphase interfaces. Recent extensions of this method are described, including simulations of fluid turbulence, suspension flows, and reaction diffusion systems.

Lattice boltzmann method for fluid flows

We report on the completion of the first version of a new-generation simulation code, FLASH. The FLASH code solves the fully compressible, reactive hydrodynamic equations and allows for the use of adaptive mesh refinement. It also contains state-of-the-art modules for the equations of state and thermonuclear reaction networks. The FLASH code was developed to study the problems of nuclear flashes on the surfaces of neutron stars and white dwarfs, as well as in the interior of white dwarfs. We expect, however, that the FLASH code will be useful for solving a wide variety of other problems. This first version of the code has been subjected to a large variety of test cases and is currently being used for production simulations of X-ray bursts, Rayleigh-Taylor and Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities, and thermonuclear flame fronts. The FLASH code is portable and already runs on a wide variety of massively parallel machines, including some of the largest machines now extant.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/317361/pdf

Flash: An adaptive mesh hydrodynamics code for modeling astrophysical thermonuclear flashes

A new and very general technique for simulating solid–fluid suspensions is described; its most important feature is that the computational cost scales linearly with the number of particles. The method combines Newtonian dynamics of the solid particles with a discretized Boltzmann equation for the fluid phase; the many-body hydrodynamic interactions are fully accounted for, both in the creeping-flow regime and at higher Reynolds numbers. Brownian motion of the solid particles arises spontaneously from stochastic fluctuations in the fluid stress tensor, rather than from random forces or displacements applied directly to the particles. In this paper, the theoretical foundations of the technique are laid out, illustrated by simple analytical and numerical examples; in a companion paper (Part 2), extensive numerical tests of the method, for stationary flows, time-dependent flows, and finite-Reynolds-number flows, are reported.

Numerical simulations of particulate suspensions via a discretized boltzmann equation: part 1. theoretical foundation

Pressure (density) and velocity boundary conditions inside a flow domain are studied for 2-D and 3-D lattice Boltzmann BGK models (LBGK) and a new method to specify these conditions are proposed. These conditions are constructed in consistency of the wall boundary condition based on an idea of bounceback of non-equilibrium distribution. When these conditions are used together with the improved incompressible LBGK model by Zou et al., the simulation results recover the analytical solution of the plane Poiseuille flow driven by pressure (density) difference with machine accuracy. Since the half-way wall bounceback boundary condition is very easy to implement and was shown theoretically to give second-order accuracy for the 2-D Poiseuille flow with forcing, it is used with pressure (density) inlet/outlet conditions proposed in this paper and in Chen et al. to study the 2-D Poiseuille flow and the 3-D square duct flow. The numerical results are approximately second-order accurate. The magnitude of the error of the half-way wall bounceback is comparable with that using some other published boundary conditions. Besides, the bounceback condition has a much better stability behavior than that of other boundary conditions.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/comp-gas/9611001.pdf

On pressure and velocity flow boundary conditions and bounceback for the lattice Boltzmann BGK model

The generalized hydrodynamics (the wave vector dependence of the transport coefficients) of a generalized lattice Boltzmann equation (LBE) is studied in detail. The generalized lattice Boltzmann equation is constructed in moment space rather than in discrete velocity space. The generalized hydrodynamics of the model is obtained by solving the dispersion equation of the linearized LBE either analytically by using perturbation technique or numerically. The proposed LBE model has a maximum number of adjustable parameters for the given set of discrete velocities. Generalized hydrodynamics characterizes dispersion, dissipation (hyper-viscosities), anisotropy, and lack of Galilean invariance of the model, and can be applied to select the values of the adjustable parameters which optimize the properties of the model. The proposed generalized hydrodynamic analysis also provides some insights into stability and proper initial conditions for LBE simulations. The stability properties of some 2D LBE models are analyzed and compared with each other in the parameter space of the mean streaming velocity and the viscous relaxation time. The procedure described in this work can be applied to analyze other LBE models. As examples, LBE models with various interpolation schemes are analyzed. Numerical results on shear flow with an initially discontinuous velocity profile (shock) with or without a constant streaming velocity are shown to demonstrate the dispersion effects in the LBE model; the results compare favorably with our theoretical analysis. We also show that whereas linear analysis of the LBE evolution operator is equivalent to Chapman-Enskog analysis in the long wave-length limit (wave vector k = 0), it can also provide results for large values of k. Such results are important for the stability and other hydrodynamic properties of the LBE method and cannot be obtained through Chapman-Enskog analysis.

/pdf/theory-of-the-lattice-boltzmann-method-dispersion-pv854qk9i2.pdf

Theory of the lattice boltzmann method: dispersion, dissipation, isotropy, galilean invariance, and stability

A Novel Thermal Model for the Lattice Boltzmann Method in Incompressible Limit

Simulation of Cavity Flow by the Lattice Boltzmann Method

A discrete model based on the Boltzmann equation with a body force and a single relaxation time collision model is derived for simulations of nonideal-gas flow. The interparticle interaction is treated using a mean-field approximation. The Boltzmann equation is discretized in a way that preserves the derivation of the hydrodynamic equations from the Boltzmann equation, using either the Chapman-Enskog method or the Grad 13-moment method. The previously proposed nonideal-gas lattice Boltzmann equation model can be analyzed with rigor.

Discrete Boltzmann equation model for nonideal gases

A previously proposed [X. Shan and H. Chen, Phys. Rev. E {\bf 47}, 1815, (1993)] lattice Boltzmann model for simulating fluids with multiple components and interparticle forces is described in detail. Macroscopic equations governing the motion of each component are derived by using Chapman-Enskog method. The mutual diffusivity in a binary mixture is calculated analytically and confirmed by numerical simulation. The diffusivity is generally a function of the concentrations of the two components but independent of the fluid velocity so that the diffusion is Galilean invariant. The analytically calculated shear kinematic viscosity of this model is also confirmed numerically.

Gary D. Doolen

Papers

Lattice boltzmann method for fluid flows

A Novel Thermal Model for the Lattice Boltzmann Method in Incompressible Limit

Simulation of Cavity Flow by the Lattice Boltzmann Method

Discrete Boltzmann equation model for nonideal gases

Multi-component lattice-Boltzmann model with interparticle interaction