Pierre Lallemand

We propose the lattice BGK models, as an alternative to lattice gases or the lattice Boltzmann equation, to obtain an efficient numerical scheme for the simulation of fluid dynamics. With a properly chosen equilibrium distribution, the Navier-Stokes equation is obtained from the kinetic BGK equation at the second-order of approximation. Compared to lattice gases, the present model is noise-free, has Galileian invariance and a velocity-independent pressure. It involves a relaxation parameter that influences the stability of the new scheme. Numerical simulations are shown to confirm the speed of sound and the shear viscosity.

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 (hyperviscosities), anisotropy, and lack of Galilean invariance of the model, and can be applied to select the values of the adjustable parameters that 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 two-dimensional 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-wavelength 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.

We study the velocity boundary condition for curved boundaries in the lattice Boltzmann equation (LBE). We propose a LBE boundary condition for moving boundaries by combination of the “bounce-back” scheme and spatial interpolations of first or second order. The proposed boundary condition is a simple, robust, efficient, and accurate scheme. Second-order accuracy of the boundary condition is demonstrated for two cases: (1) time-dependent two-dimensional circular Couette flow and (2) two-dimensional steady flow past a periodic array of circular cylinders (flow through the porous media of cylinders). For the former case, the lattice Boltzmann solution is compared with the analytic solution of the Navier–Stokes equation. For the latter case, the lattice Boltzmann solution is compared with a finite-element solution of the Navier–Stokes equation. The lattice Boltzmann solutions for both flows agree very well with the solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations. We also analyze the torque due to the momentum transfer between the fluid and the boundary for two initial conditions: (a) impulsively started cylinder and the fluid at rest, and (b) uniformly rotating fluid and the cylinder at rest.

Hydrodynamical phenomena can be simulated by discrete lattice gas models obeing cellular automata rules (U. Frisch, B. Hasslacher, and Y. Pomeau, Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 1505, (1986); D. d'Humieres, P. Lallemand, and U. Frisch, Europhys. Lett. 2, 291, (1986)). It is here shown for a class of D-dimensional lattice gas models how the macrodynamical (large-scale) equations for the densities of microscopically conserved quantities can be systematically derived from the underlying exact ''microdynamical'' Boolean equations. With suitable restrictions on the crystallographic symmetries of the lattice and after proper limits are taken, various standard fluid dynamical equations are obtained, including the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in two and three dimensions. The transport coefficients appearing in the macrodynamical equations are obtained using variants of fluctuation-dissipation and Boltzmann formalisms adapted to fully discrete situations.