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Abstract
Lattice Boltzmann method is relatively new method in the field of computational fluid
dynamics. It has been derived from lattice gas automata and is still under development.
This seminar provides an introduction to the lattice Boltzmann method as a tool for the
numerical simulation of fluid flow. The history of the lattice Boltzmann Method and its
precursor to the lattice Boltzmann methods is discussed. The lattice Boltzmann bases
physics and different application areas of engineering interest are covered, including
turbulent flows, flows through porous media, and multiphase flow. Some open source
source software based on lattice Boltzmann method are mentioned.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1 Lattice Gas Automata (LGA) 3
2.2 Limitations Of Lattice Gas Automata 5
2.3 The Transition From LGA To LBM 5
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
There are two main approaches in simulating the transport equations (heat, mass, and
momentum), continuum and discrete. In continuum approach (Fig. 1.1), ordinary or
partial differential equations can be achieved by applying conservation of energy, mass,
and momentum for an infinitesimal control volume. Since it is difficult to solve the
governing differential equations for many reasons (non-linearity, complex boundary
conditions, complex geometry, etc.), therefore finite difference, finite volume, finite
element, etc., schemes are used to convert the differential equations with a given
boundary and initial conditions into a system of algebraic equations. The algebraic
equations can be solved iteratively until convergence is insured. Let us discuss the
procedure in more detail, first the governing equations are identified (mainly partial
differential equation). The next step is to discretize the domain into volume, girds, or
elements depending on the method of solution. We can look at this step as each volume or
node or element contains a collection of particles (huge number). The scale is
macroscopic. The velocity, pressure, temperature of all those particles represented by a
nodal value, or averaged over a finite volume, or simply assumed linearly or bi-linearly
varied from one node to another. The phenomenological properties such as viscosity,
thermal conductivity, heat capacity, etc. are in general known parameters (input
parameters, except for inverse problems). For inverse problems, one or more thermo-
physical properties may be unknown.
On the other extreme, the medium can be considered made of small particles (atom,
molecule) and these particles collide with each other. This scale is micro-scale. Hence, we
need to identify the inter-particle (inter-molecular) forces and solve ordinary differential
equation of Newton’s second law (momentum conservation). At each time step, we need
to identify location and velocity of each particle, i.e, trajectory of the particles. At this
level, there is no definition of temperature, pressure, and thermo-physical properties, such
as viscosity, thermal conductivity, heat capacity, etc. For instance, temperature and
pressure are related to the kinetic energy of the particles (mass and velocity) and
frequency of particles bombardment on the boundaries, respectively. This method is
called molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In bookkeeping process we need to identify
location (x; y; z) and velocity (cx; cy; and cz are velocity components in x; y and z
direction, respectively) of each particle. Also, the simulation time step should be less than
the particles collision time, which is in the order of fero-seconds (1012 s). Hence, it is
impossible to solve large size problems (order of cm) by MD method. The question is, is
the velocity and location of each particle important for us? For instance, in this room
there are billions of molecules traveling at high speed order of 400 m/s; like rockets,
hitting us. But, we do not feel them, because their mass (momentum) is so small. The
resultant effect of such a ‘‘chaotic’’ motion is almost nil, where the air in the room is
almost stagnant (i.e., velocity in the room is almost zero). Hence, the behavior of the
individual particles is not an important issue on the macroscopic scale, the important
thing is the resultant effects.
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
The particles would follow a simple repeating process; first collision rules were applied,
then transport rules were applied, finally the time step is completed and the algorithm
returns to the collision step. During the collision step every node is searched for a
collision, where a collision is defined as either two particles sharing a node or a particle
on a boundary node. Wherever a collision is found the velocities are updated using a
series of "rules”, that are merely simplified cases derived from the conservation of
momentum. After all collisions are resolved, transport occurs. In this step every particle is
moved to the next node in the direction of its velocity. Now the time step ends and the
processes repeats at the next time step. The main assets held by the lattice gas model are
that the boolean states mean there will be exact computing without any round-off error
and that the cellular automata system makes it possible to run lattice gas automaton
simulations with parallel computing.
The hexagonal grid model (Fig. 2.2) was first introduced in 1986, in a paper by Uriel
Frisch, Brosl Hasslacher and Yves Pomeau, and this has become known as the FHP
model after its inventors. The model has six or seven velocities, depending on which
variation is used. In any case, six of the velocities represent movement to each of the
neighboring sites. [2]
The model is badly flawed, as momentum is always conserved in both the horizontal and
vertical lanes. No energy is ever removed from the model, either by collisions or
movement, so it will continue indefinitely. The HPP model lacked rotational invariance,
which made the model highly anisotropic. This means for example, that the vortices
produced by the HPP model are square-shaped. The hexagonal grid does not suffer as
large anisotropy troubles as those that plague the HPP square grid model. Another
problem is the difficulty in expanding the model to handle three dimensional problems,
requiring the use of more dimensions to maintain a sufficiently symmetric grid to tackle
such issues. Disadvantages of the lattice gas method include the lack of Galilean
invariance. For starters, a massive number of particles have to be used to get a picture of
the overall fluid motion, this will enormously increase computational time when there are
massive numbers of particles. Furthermore, due to the fact that particles are represented
discretely, LGA is enormously dependent on the number of lattice directions. By the
nineties work on Lattice Gas Automata had come to nearly a halt as Lattice Boltzmann
grew more popular. [3]
The main motivation for the transition from LGA to LBM was the desire to remove
statistical noise by replacing the boolean particle number in a lattice direction with its
ensemble average, the so-called density distribution function. Accompanying this
replacement, the discrete collision rules also have to be modified as a continuous
function – the collision operator. In the LBM development, an important simplification is
to approximate the collision operator with the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (BGK) relaxation
term. This lattice BGK (LBGK) model makes simulations more efficient and allows
flexibility of the transport coefficients. On the other hand, it has been shown that the
LBM scheme can also be considered as a special discretized form of the continuous
Boltzmann equation. [4]
CHAPTER 3
KINETICS OF PARTICLE
CHAPTER 4
THE LATTICE BOLTZMANN IN CFD
∂f
+ u · ∇f = Ω (4.1)
∂t
where f ( x , t) is the particle distribution function, u is the particle velocity, and Ω is the
collision operator. The LBM simplifies Boltzmann’s original idea of gas dynamics by
reducing the number of particles and confining them to the nodes of a lattice. For a two
dimensional model, a particle is restricted to stream in a possible of 9 directions,
including the one staying at rest. These velocities are referred to as the microscopic
For each particle on the lattice, we associate a discrete probability distribution function
f i
( x , e i, t) or simply f i
( x , t), i = 0 . . . 8, which describes the probability of streaming
in one particular direction. Similarly, we have D3Q19 model for 3-dimensional lattice.
Since much of the challenge in solving the Boltzmann equation originates with the
complex collision term, attempts have been made to "model" and simplify the collision
term. The best known model equation is due to Bhatnagar, Gross and Krook. The
assumption in the BGK approximation is that the effect of molecular collisions is to force
a non-equilibrium distribution function at a point in physical space back to a Maxwellian
equilibrium distribution function and that the rate at which this occurs is proportional to
the molecular collision frequency (relaxation time). The Boltzmann equation is therefore
modified to the BGK form, [6]
∂f
u · ∇f
f 0
− f eq
+ + F.∇f = (4.2)
∂t τ
∂f
Where is a temporal term, u ·∇f is convective term , and the collision operator can
∂t
be defined as,
f 0
− f eq
Ω(f) = (4.3)
τ
Where f 0
( x ,t) is local (present) value of distribution function, f eq
( x ,t) is equilibrium
distribution function when the system is in the equilibrium state and τ is the relaxation
time towards local equilibrium. The fluid kinematic viscosity is related to τ in the
momentum equation and related to thermal conductivity for energy equation. The
equation is a linear partial differential equation. The equation looks like an advection
equation with a source term. The right-hand side of the equation represents the advection
(streaming). The left-hand side term represents the collision process, source term.
eq
f i
( x + c e i ∆t , t + ∆t ) - f i
( x , t) = - [ f i
( x , t) - f i
( x ,t) ] / τ (4.4)
Streaming Collision
ρ ( x, t ) = ∑ f i
( x ,t) (4.5)
i
1
u ( x , t) = ∑c f e (4.6)
ρ i i i
The traditional approach in CFD is to start with the Navier-Stokes (N-S) equations. The
N-S equations are a set of partial differential equations that statistically describe a real
fluid. These equations are fundamentally sound (at least for the majority of practical fluid
flow problems of interest). The problem is that for most cases of interest, the solutions to
these very complex and highly non-linear equations are characterized by many degrees of
freedom. Analytical solutions cannot be obtained except for the simplest of problems. The
problem with the traditional approach employed over the past years lies of course not in
the N-S equations themselves but in the analytical and numerical techniques employed to
provide approximate solutions to them.
∂V 2
ρ[ + ( V. ∇ )V ] = - ∇ P + µ ∇ V (4.7)
∂t
On the numerical method front, fluid convection is realized in LBM via particle
microscopic velocities. In comparison, fluid convection in N-S is a nonlinear process that
is a function of both space and time. It is relatively much more difficult to deal with the
convection process with N-S, particularly with time-explicit schemes. The constant
microscopic velocities also enable better handling of boundary conditions involving
complex geometry. Furthermore, nonlinear fluid physics is fully contained in the local
collision process in LBM. The primary reason why LBM can serve as a method for fuid
simulations is that the Navier-Stokes equations can be recovered from the discrete
equations through the Chapman-Enskog procedure. All these factors allow for efficient
and parallel computation of time dependent flows with complex geometry. [7]
Most of the calculations in LBM are local and more suitable for parallel. Parallel
scheme for hardware acceleration; graphics hardware: GPU, GPU cluster.
Thermal disturbances originate from the microscopic and average macroscopic, LBM
includes them in the mesoscopic description.
LBM demonstrates promising results in the area of high Knudsen number flows.
Automated data pre-processing and mesh generation in a time that accounts for a
small fraction of the total simulation.
High-Mach number flows in aerodynamics are still difficult for LBM, and a
consistent thermo-hydrodynamic scheme is absent.
The coupling between discretized velocity space and configuration space leads to
regular square grids. Especially for aerodynamics where both the far field boundary
condition and the near wall boundary layer need to be carefully implemented. [8]
CHAPTER 5
APPLICATIONS OF LBM
1) Blood Flow and Perfusion: Flow simulation in arteries + myocardium as porous
medium modeled by means of LBM (Fig. 5.1). Pressure boundary conditions at aorta
and endocardium.[9]
2) Blood Clotting in a Human Artery: Arteries that have been affected by disease can
be at high risk to rupture. These ruptures can possibly be prevented by blood clotting
in the vulnerable area. Need to simulate red blood cell changing from liquid to solid
behavior and stick to artery wall. LBM is effective at achieving this because of its
hybrid particle/continuum nature (Fig. 5.2). [10]
3) LBM in Complex Field: The pump water-air system (Fig. 5.3) has two-phase flow,
rotating geometry, fluid turbulence, gravity and fully high resolution resolved
droplets. [10]
gas bubbles raising inside this media through buoyancy are responsible for heat
convection, leading ultimately to complete melting. This problem puts into play a
complex interaction of physical ingredients, including multiphase flow, buoyancy
effects, thermal convection, and changing geometry. [12]
The open source software for LBM are Palabos, OpenLB and Taxila-LBM.
CONCLUSION
The new method was found to be promising method for simulation of flow in complex
geometry. Thus, the capability of LBM to simulate turbulent flows in complex geometry
along with the easiness to implement LBM in complicated geometries make this an ideal
method for simulation of turbulent flows. Future directions for research may include
utilizing nonuniform or unstructured lattice meshes for complex micro-structures (e.g.,
surface roughness), combining LBM with molecular dynamics and CFD (hybrid
algorithms), and applying LBM to bio-microfluidic systems.
References
1. A. A. Mohamad, “Lattice Boltzmann Method Fundamentals and Engineering
Applications with Computer Codes”,Springer.
2. Oztekin, Dennis Ekin, “The Lattice Boltzmann Methods and Their Applications to
Fluid Flows” (2014) ,Theses and Dissertations, Paper 1581.
3. Sauro Succi (2001), “The Lattice Boltzmann Equation, for fluid dynamics and beyond”,
Oxford Science Publications. (chapter 2 is about lattice gas Cellular Automata )
5. Yuanxun Bill Bao & Justin Meskas, “Lattice Boltzmann Method for Fluid
Simulations”, April 14, 2011.
6. Bhatnagar, P. L.; Gross, E. P.; Krook, M. (1954-05-01). "A Model for Collision
Processes in Gases. I. Small Amplitude Processes in Charged and Neutral One-
Component Systems". Physical Review. 94 (3)