Free convection of nanofluid filled enclosure using lattice Boltzmann method （LBM）

The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is used to examine free convection of nanofluids. The space between the cold outer square and heated inner circular cylinders is filled with water including various kinds of nanoparticles: TiO₂, Ag, Cu, and Al₂O₃. The Brinkman and Maxwell-Garnetts models are used to simulate the viscosity and the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids, respectively. Results from the performed numerical analysis show good agreement with those obtained from other numerical methods. A variety of the Rayleigh number, the nanoparticle volume fraction, and the aspect ratio are examined. According to the results, choosing copper as the nanoparticle leads to obtaining the highest enhancement for this problem. The results also indicate that the maximum value of enhancement occurs at λ = 2.5 when Ra = 10⁶ while at λ = 1.5 for other Rayleigh numbers.     

Unstructured lattice Boltzmann method in three dimensions

Over the last decade, the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) has evolved into a valuable alternative to continuum computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods for the numerical simulation of several complex fluid‐dynamic problems. Recent advances in lattice Boltzmann research have considerably extended the capability of LBM to handle complex geometries. Among these, a particularly remarkable option is represented by cell‐vertex finite‐volume formulations which permit LBM to operate on fully unstructured grids. The two‐dimensional implementation of unstructured LBM, based on the use of triangular elements, has shown capability of tolerating significant grid distortions without suffering any appreciable numerical viscosity effects, to second‐order in the mesh size. In this work, we present the first three‐dimensional generalization of the unstructured lattice Boltzmann technique (ULBE as unstructured lattice Boltzmann equation), in which geometrical flexibility is achieved by coarse‐graining the lattice Boltzmann equation in differential form, using tetrahedrical grids. This 3D extension is demonstrated for the case of 3D pipe flow and moderate Reynolds numbers flow past a sphere. The results provide evidence that the ULBE has significant potential for the accurate calculation of flows in complex 3D geometries. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On numerical diffusion of simplified lattice Boltzmann method

In this article, we analyze the numerical diffusion in the recently developed simplified lattice Boltzmann method (SLBM) and propose amending strategies towards lower numerical diffusion. It is noted that, in the original SLBM, the intermediate flow properties are utilized to evaluate the nonequilibrium distribution function, which may bring in excessive numerical diffusion. In the revised scheme, this evaluation strategy is nurtured by using the corrected flow properties to calculate the nonequilibrium distribution function. In the meantime, the numerically evaluated nonequilibrium distribution function only approximately fulfills the conservation relationship in the second order of accuracy. Although such approximation does not violate the global order of accuracy, offsetting the extra error would contribute to reducing the numerical diffusion. After implementing the proposed amending strategies, the revised SLBM (RSLBM) is validated through three numerical examples. The results indicate that RSLBM bears comparable order of accuracy as the original SLBM but shows lower numerical error on the same mesh size. And the reduced numerical error facilitates recovery of delicate flow structures. The proposed RSLBM can be flexibly implemented on nonuniform or body-fitted meshes, and in three-dimensional simulations.     

Dynamic behavior investigation of capillary rising at various dominant forces using free energy lattice Boltzmann method

Meccanica - A Free Energy Lattice Boltzmann Method has been developed to characterize dominant forces and regimes involved in the capillary rise imbibition process. The comparison of the capillary...     

Simulation of gravity currents using the thermal lattice Boltzmann method

The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is becoming an effective numerical technique of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In this study, with some new thermal LBM schemes being proposed, the LBM is used to simulate the gravity current prior to backdraft (a particular and hazardous phenomenon in compartment fire) within laminar restrictions. The dimensionless time for gravity current traveling from the opening to the rear wall of a bench‐scale compartment is calculated under different opening geometries, respectively, including: full end opening, upside‐slot end opening, middle‐slot end opening, downside‐slot end opening, and slot ceiling opening. The application is very successful and the results show that the dimensionless time under the slot ceiling opening is the longest. Among the slot end openings, similar dimensionless time has been obtained for the upside‐slot and middle‐slot end openings, which is shorter than the downside‐slot end opening. For the full end opening, the shortest dimensionless time is obtained. Finally, some valuable advices are given for fire protection engineering. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Theoretical and numerical study of Couette-Taylor flow with an axial flow using lattice Boltzmann method

In this study, the numerical models for swirling flows developed by Li et al and Zhou for lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) are chosen. These models were firstly validated using the Couette-Taylor flow between two concentric cylinders simulations. Numerical results showed the efficiency of the Zhou's model. Numerical simulation results using LBM are in good agreement for the steady and unsteady regimes compared to the literature review. In a second step, the Zhou model was then adopted to our study to determine the Couette-Taylor instabilities with an axial flow. Two protocols are tested. The first one (direct protocol) starts with an azimuthal flow without any axial flow (Re = 0). Once the regime is established, an axial flow is then superposed to the Couette-Taylor flow (with a sudden or a progressive manner). The second protocol (inverse protocol) starts with an axial flow at a given Reynolds number (Poiseuille flow). Once the regime is established, an azimuthal flow is the executed (with a sudden or a progressive manner). The effect of various parameters controlling the physical situation is also discussed. The increase of the azimuthal velocity mainly led to the emergence and development of Taylor vortices. Its influence decreases when the axial Reynolds number increases. The relevant result for this study is the change of the critical axial Reynolds number Re_c (total disappearance of instabilities) with both protocols and both manners.     

Numerical simulation of laminar jet-forced flow using lattice Boltzmann method

In the paper, a numerical study on symmetrical and asymmetrical laminar jet-forced flows is carried out by using a lattice Boltzmann method （LBM） with a special boundary treatment. The simulation results are in very good agreement with the available numerical prediction. It is shown that the LBM is a competitive method for the laminar jet-forced flow in terms of computational efficiency and stability.     

用格子Boltzmann方法数值模拟混合层中旋涡的合并过程

用格子Boltzmann方法计算混合层中的流动问题。在流场的入口处加不同频率、振幅和相位的小扰动,观察混合层中旋涡的演进机理,模拟二维混合层中旋涡合并现象。在基本扰动波的基础上,又加入频率为基本波频率一半的亚谐波,得到了两个涡合并的计算结果,当加入的亚谐波频率为基本波频率的三分之一时,得到了三个涡合并的计算结果。这些计算结果与已有文献的结果基本一致,显示用格子Boltzmann方法模拟混合层问题是可行的。     

A lattice Boltzmann method for simulation of multi-species shock accelerated flows

A numerical scheme for simulating multi-species shock accelerated flows using lattice Boltzmann approach has been proposed. It uses the moment conservation approach of Yang, Shu, and Wu and extends it to multi-species fluid problems. The multi-species method of Wang et al. has been modified by use of a predictor–corrector approach. This has helped in preventing the pressure oscillations while handling multi-species. Simulation of 2D shock cylinder interaction with this solver has shown good agreement with the experimental data and could capture material discontinuity and unsteady shocks. The simulation of a single mode Richtmyer–Meshkov instability showed that the solver is able to capture the development of spike and bubble as per the experimental findings of Aure and Jacobs. The dissipation in the proposed scheme was further reduced by the use of fifth-order weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO). Validated with multiple problems, this method has been found to capture shock instability with good accuracy with a check on pressure oscillations.     

Permeability of microscale fibrous porous media using the lattice Boltzmann method

The permeabilities of microscale fibrous porous media were calculated using the multiple-relaxation-time (MRT) lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). Two models of the microscale fibrous porous media were constructed based on overlapping fibers (simple cubic, body-centered cubic). Arranging the fibers in skew positions yielded two additional models comprising non-overlapping fibers (skewed simple cubic, skewed body-centered cubic). As the fiber diameter increased, the fibers acted as granular inclusions. The effects of the overlapping fibers on the media permeability were investigated. The overlapping fibers yielded permeability values that were a factor of 2.5 larger than those obtained from non-overlapping fibers, but the effects of the fiber arrangement were negligible. Two correlations were obtained for the overlapping and non-overlapping fiber models, respectively. The effects of the rarefaction and slip flow are also discussed. As the Knudsen number increased, the dimensionless permeability increased; however, the increase differed depending on the fiber arrangement. In the slip flow regime, the fiber arrangement inside the porous media became an important factor.     

Parallel computation of turbulent flows using moment base lattice Boltzmann method

This paper describes parallel computing approach for simulating turbulent flows using a moment base lattice Boltzmann method. The distribution functions of the lattice Boltzmann method are expressed by corresponding moments. Choosing proper relaxation times for higher order moments, a minimum numerical dissipation is implicitly added to stabilise the method at high Reynolds numbers. Validation of the method is made by computing free decaying periodic turbulent flows and fully developed turbulent channel flows on a GPU platform. Though the present method requires additional work to calculate the higher order moments, it is shown that additional computational cost is negligible in the GPU computing. The numerical results stably obtained for the turbulent flows are in good agreement with those of a pseudo-spectral method and corresponding DNS database.     

A lattice Boltzmann method for viscous free surface waves in two dimensions

We propose a new method based on the combination of the lattice Boltzmann equation (LBE) and the kinematic boundary condition (KBC) method to simulate viscous free surface wave in two dimensions. In our method, the flow field is modeled by LBE, whereas the free surface is explicitly tracked by the local height function, which is calculated by the KBC method. The free surface boundary condition (FSBC) for LBE is revised from previous researches. Interpolation‐supplemented lattice Boltzmann (ISLB) method is introduced, which enables our approach to be applied on arbitrary, nonuniform mesh grids. Five cases are simulated respectively to validate the LBE–KBC method: the stationary flow and the solitary waves simulated by the revised‐FSBC are more accurate than the one obtained by the former‐FSBC; numerical results of standing waves show that our method is compatible to the existing two‐dimensional finite‐volume scheme; cases of small amplitude Stokes wave and waves traveling over a submerged bar show good agreement on wave celerity, wavelength, wave amplitude and wave period between numerical results and corresponding analytical solutions and/or experiment data.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于格子-波尔兹曼法的流体能耗求解

格子-波尔兹曼法是近年来新兴的一种计算流体力学数值方法。随着这种方法的不断发展,人们将它用于流体的仿真、优化等不同场合。与此同时,一些与流场流速和压强相关的物理量(如能耗)的求解也成为关注的焦点。本文介绍了能耗这一流体宏观量的格子-波尔兹曼法求解及其实现。与传统的有限差分法不同,本文在求解有关的速度梯度时使用了格子-波尔兹曼-矩法,这种方法不但能够避免有限差分法在边界处失效的缺点,而且计算简单,算法局部性好,适合大规模并行计算。本文在分析其数值解精度的基础上,使用这种方法进行了以能耗极小为目标的直通道内椭圆挡块的参数优化。这些分析和算例分别定量和定性地说明了本文算法的准确性。     

Numerical study of the properties of the central moment lattice Boltzmann method

Central moment lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is one of the more recent developments among the lattice kinetic schemes for computational fluid dynamics. A key element in this approach is the use of central moments to specify the collision process and forcing, and thereby naturally maintaining Galilean invariance, an important characteristic of fluid flows. When the different central moments are relaxed at different rates like in a standard multiple relaxation time (MRT) formulation based on raw moments, it is endowed with a number of desirable physical and numerical features. Because the collision operator exhibits a cascaded structure, this approach is also known as the cascaded LBM. While the cascaded LBM has been developed sometime ago, a systematic study of its numerical properties, such as the accuracy, grid convergence, and stability for well‐defined canonical problems is lacking, and the present work is intended to fulfill this need. We perform a quantitative study of the performance of the cascaded LBM for a set of benchmark problems of differing complexity, viz., Poiseuille flow, decaying Taylor–Green vortex flow, and lid‐driven cavity flow. We first establish its grid convergence and demonstrate second‐order accuracy under diffusive scaling for both the velocity field and its derivatives, that is, the components of the strain rate tensor, as well. The method is shown to quantitatively reproduce steady/unsteady analytical solutions or other numerical results with excellent accuracy. The cascaded MRT LBM based on the central moments is found to be of similar accuracy when compared with the standard MRT LBM based on the raw moments, when a detailed comparison of the flow fields are made, with both reproducing even the small scale vortical features well. Numerical experiments further demonstrate that the central moment MRT LBM results in significant stability improvements when compared with certain existing collision models at moderate additional computational cost. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multiple-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann method for study of two-lid-driven cavity flow solution multiplicity

As a fundamental subject in fluid mechanics, sophisticated cavity flow patterns due to the movement of multi-lids have been routinely analyzed by the computational fluid dynamics community. Unlike those reported computational studies that were conducted using more conventional numerical methods, this paper features employing the multiple-relaxation-time (MRT) lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) to numerically investigate the two-dimensional cavity flows generated by the movements of two adjacent lids. The obtained MRT-LBM results reveal a number of important bifurcation flow features, such as the symmetry and steadiness of cavity flows at low Reynolds numbers, the multiplicity of stable cavity flow patterns when the Reynolds number exceeds its first critical value, as well as the periodicity of the cavity flow after the second critical Reynolds number is reached. Detailed flow characteristics are reported that include the critical Reynolds numbers, the locations of the vortex centers, and the values of stream function at the vortex centers. Through systematic comparison against the simulation results obtained elsewhere by using the lattice Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook model and other numerical schemes, not only does the MRT-LBM approach exhibit fairly satisfactory accuracy, but also demonstrates its remarkable flexibility that renders the adjustment of its multiple relaxation factors fully manageable and, thus, particularly accommodates the need of effectively investigating the multiplicity of flow patterns with complex behaviors.     

Numerical modeling of turbulent compound channel flow using the lattice Boltzmann method

The flow of water in a straight compound channel with prismatic cross section is investigated with a relatively new tool, the lattice Boltzmann method. The large eddy simulation model is added in the lattice Boltzmann model for nonlinear shallow water equations (LABSWE^TM) so that the turbulence, caused by lateral exchange of momentum in the shear layer between the main channel and floodplain, can be taken into account and modeled efficiently. To validate the numerical model, a symmetrical compound channel with trapezoidal main channel and flat floodplain is tested. Similar to most natural watercourses, the floodplain has higher roughness values than the main channel. Different relative depths, D_r (the ratio of the depth of flow on the floodplain to that in the main channel), are considered. The Reynolds number is set at 30 000 in the main channel. The lateral distributions of the longitudinal velocity, the boundary shear stress, the Reynolds stress and the apparent shear stress across the channel are obtained after the large eddy simulation is performed. The results of numerical simulations are compared with the available experiment data, which show that the LABSWE^TM is capable of modeling the features of flow turbulence in compound channels and is sufficiently accurate for practical applications in engineering. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impulse and mass transport in a cartilage bioreactor using the lattice Boltzmann method

Mass and Impulse transport of oxygen enriched water in cartilage cell breeding reactor are simulated using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The solver is attached with a shear stress and pressure calculator to quantify the load distribution on the cells. The solver was validated using the backward-facing step flow, which is a classical benchmark of similar discrete geometry for the bioreactor. This is achieved by comparing the qualitative and quantitative results obtained by LBM with the traditional solution and experimental approach for such a problem. The D2Q9 lattice model is used to carry out the calculations for the flow field, with a first order bounce-back boundary condition. Oxygen consumption efficiency levels in the bioreactor were reported.     

Simulation of natural convection melting in a cavity with fin using lattice Boltzmann method

In this study, a numerical investigation of melting phenomenon with natural convection in a cavity with fin has been performed using enthalpy‐based lattice Boltzmann method. The lattice D2Q9 model was applied to determine the density and velocity fields, and the D2Q5 model for the temperature field. The effect of vertical position and length of the fin on the melting rate was studied. The simulations were carried out for Stefan number of 10, Rayleigh number of 10 ⁵ and relative thermal conductivity (k_fin∕k_fluid) ranging from 5 to 30. The obtained results show that the rate of melting increases when the relative thermal conductivity and the length of the fin become greater. We also found that the variation of vertical position of the fin from bottom to middle has an insignificant effect on melting while it causes the increase of full melting time when the fin is mounted on the top of the cavity. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.