Deformable bodies in a 3-dimensional viscous flow: Vorticity-stream vector formulation

In this work, results from a 2-D Lattice Boltzmann (LB) solver are presented simulating flow past rectangular square cylinders at low Reynolds numbers (< 250). The LBGK equation is a hyperbolic equation that approximates the Navier Stokes equations in the nearly incompressible limit. It is a system of 9 one dimensional partial differential Hamiltonian-Jacobian equations, consisting of an advection and diffusive portion. The LB method is an alternative computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method used to numerically predict incompressible viscous flow. The current LB method uses a statistical mechanics formulation to solve the Boltzmann equation. The LB model captures the nonlinear Navier Stokes advection terms using linear streaming operators. In this thesis, the LB model is classified as an explicit, Lagrangian, finite-hyperbolicity and weakly compressible approximation of the Navier Stokes equations. The momentum flux tensor is captured locally as opposed to a pressure field eliminating the need to solve the Poisson equation. This allows the fluid structure interactions (FSI) behavior to be calculated elegantly at the interface through the mesoscopic momentum transfer between the fluid and structure. At this level, the forces are simultaneously calculated. The LB equations are discretized both in time and phase space using a standard D2Q9 lattice model. Validation tests for flow around single square cylinders at different aspect ratio at low Reynolds numbers are presented. Good agreement with other investigators is achieved. Flow past multiple bluff bodies (representing building in a city) is also presented. The vortex shedding simulations presented provide preliminary indications in terms of St that the LB method can be used to simulate high Re flow.

Shear-induced migration is vital to understanding the mechanisms associated with several critical applications. Particles tend to migrate from areas of high stress to low-stress areas. In this work, we develop a constitutive rheological model that considers deformable particles' migration due to gradients in viscosity, shear rate, and concentration in cylindrical Couette and tube Poiseuille flows by extending the diffusive flux model of Phillips et al. [“A constitutive equation for concentrated suspensions that accounts for shear-induced particle migration,” Phys. Fluids 4(1), 30–40 (1992)] which considers rigid spherical particles in a Newtonian suspending fluid, to handle deformable particles. The new model demonstrates that particle deformability plays a crucial role in migration. In a tube Poiseuille flow, we note a greater migration of deformable particles toward the centerline and a centerline velocity increase relative to rigid ones; similarly, in a cylindrical Couette flow, there is an increase in the velocity, particularly in the center region between the two cylinders, and an increased migration of deformable particles toward the outer (stationary) cylinder. Our modification of the model of Phillips et al. [“A constitutive equation for concentrated suspensions that accounts for shear-induced particle migration,” Phys. Fluids 4(1), 30–40 (1992)] for deformable particles agrees with experimental data and dissipative particle dynamics simulations for blood suspensions from the literature. The use of the revised constitutive model in numerical simulations of more complicated geometries, such as bifurcations or T-shaped microchannels, will enrich our understanding of the mechanisms associated with the flow of deformable particles in many significant technological applications.

Modeling gas flows generated by micro- and nano-devices often requires the use of kinetic theory. To facilitate implementation, various approximate formulations have been proposed based on the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (BGK) kinetic model, including most recently, the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method. While there exists a comprehensive numerical data set for the hard sphere linearized Boltzmann equation for steady Couette flow, no such set of data is available for the Boltzmann-BGK equation. The purpose of this article is to present a high accuracy data set for the linearized Boltzmann-BGK equation over the full range of Knudsen numbers and normalized oscillation frequencies – this encompasses both steady and unsteady Couette flows. This data set is expected to be of particular value in the benchmarking and validation of computational methods such as the LB method and other approaches based on the Boltzmann-BGK equation.

This study describes the numerical simulation of two-dimensional droplet formation and the following motion by using the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) with the phase field equation. The free energy model is used to treat the interfacial force and the deformation of a binary fluid system, drawn into a cross-junction microchannel. While one fluid is introduced through the central inlet channel, the other fluid is drawn into the main channel through the two vertical inlet channels. Due to the effect of surface tension on the interface between the two fluids, the droplets of the first fluid are formed near the cross-junction. The aim in this investigation is to examine the applicability of LBM to the numerical analysis of the droplet formation and its motion in the microchannel. It was found from comparison with the experimentally visualized patterns that LBM with the free energy model can reproduce the droplet formation successfully. However because of the stability problem which is intrinsic for high surface-tension cases, it requires a very long computational time. This issue is to be resolved in the future.

Trapping micro-swimmers over a cavity in an inertial micro-channel

Inertial effects during the process of supercritical CO2 displacing brine in porous media may not be negligible according to recent studies. Capturing the inertial effects of the physical CO2‐brine system imposes a requirement on the grid resolution and viscosity to surface tension ratio for pore‐scale simulations, which some commonly used simulators may not be able to meet. To fulfill the parameter requirement, we combine the continuum‐surface‐force based color‐gradient lattice Boltzmann (LB) multiphase model and the geometrical wetting model and extend the model to 3D under the multiple‐relaxation‐time framework. We validate the model via simple benchmarks which show significant improvement over the traditional models. We then perform 3D drainage simulations in a heterogeneous micromodel where the simulation result agrees well with experimental data, while our previous work fails to reproduce certain displacement patterns in the experiment due to the use of a traditional LB model that cannot fulfill the parameter requirement. Finally, we perform high‐fidelity 3D drainage simulations to study the inertial effects in a Bentheimer sandstone sample. Our results show that stronger inertial effects generally help develop more CO2 flow pathways for the same capillary number which results in higher CO2 saturation, consistent with the micromodel results. The phenomena can be found in both low and high capillary number cases, indicating that the inertial effects are not dependent on the mean velocity. In addition, the change of the invasion patterns is not proportional to the change of inertial effects, thus exhibiting threshold behavior.

The free-energy lattice Boltzmann (LB) method is a multiphase LB approach based on the thermodynamic theory. Compared with traditional free-energy LB models, which employ a nonideal thermodynamic pressure tensor, the chemical-potential-based free-energy LB model has attracted much attention in recent years as it avoids computing the thermodynamic pressure tensor and its divergence. In this paper, we propose an improved wetting boundary condition for the chemical-potential-based free-energy LB model. Different from the original wetting boundary condition in the literature, the improved wetting boundary condition utilizes a surface chemical potential that is compatible with the chemical potential of the fluid domain. Accordingly, the thermodynamic consistency of the chemical-potential-based free-energy LB model can be retained by the improved wetting boundary condition. Numerical simulations are performed for droplets resting on flat and cylindrical surfaces with different contact angles. The numerical results show that the improved wetting boundary condition yields more reasonable results and the maximum spurious velocities are found to be smaller by 2 ∼ 3 orders of magnitude than those produced by the original wetting boundary condition.

Lattice Boltzmann model for incompressible flows through porous media with time-fractional effects

Compaction and sand migration are some of the main problems for the loosely consolidated and unconsolidated high rate gas reservoirs. A reliable estimation of the well productivity depends on accurate modeling of permeability and inertial effects. Therefore, the key objective of this paper is to quantify the flow parameters change in the case of compaction and sand migration, and the development of permeability and the non-Darcy coefficient correlations that can be used in reservoir simulations. The compaction effects are simulated by increasing grains diameters with the same ratio. Permeability and the non-Darcy coefficients are calculated from lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). Results indicate that permeability decrease is not directional and the change in permeability can be estimated from porosity change with a Kozeny-Carman type relation with an exponent of 3.2. A Kozeny-Carman type relation between the non-Darcy coefficient and permeability is also found with an exponent −1.303. For high compressibility reservoirs, estimation of the inertial effects from the correlations developed as a function of permeability and porosity may also lead to underestimation of the inertial effects. Sand migration causes pore-throat plugging that leads to significant reduction in permeability. Permeability impairment due to sand or fines migration is usually estimated from Kozeny-Carman type relation based on porosity. There is no study in the literature on how the inertial effects are changed with permeability impairment due to sand or fines migration. Sand particle plugging locations are found from the network simulations for different pore volume reduction, and corresponding permeability and the non-Darcy coefficient are calculated from LBM. It is found that permeability change with sand plugging is direction dependent: permeability reduction in the flow direction is twice compared to other directions. Porosity reduction does not depend on only pore-throat plugging, porosity can be decrease due to compaction and pore-surface deposition. Therefore, a correlation is developed to estimate permeability from pore-throat sand concentration. Even though permeability change is directional, the trend between permeability and the non-Darcy coefficient is similar and the magnitude of exponent in Kozeny-Carman type relation is larger, −1.803, compared to that of compaction.

We investigate the nonlinear phase-space dynamics of plane Couette flow and plane Poiseuille flow under the action of opposition control at low Reynolds numbers in domains close to the minimal unit. In Couette flow, the effect of the control is analysed by focussing on a pair of non-trivial equilibrium solutions. It is found that the control only slightly modifies the statistics, turbulent skin friction and phase-space projection of the lower-branch equilibrium solution, which, in this case, is in fact identical to the edge state. On the other hand, the upper-branch equilibrium solution and mean turbulent state are modified considerably when the control is applied. In phase space, they gradually approach the lower-branch equilibrium solution on increasing the control amplitude, and this results in an elevation of the critical Reynolds number at which the equilibrium solutions first occur via a saddle-node bifurcation. It is also found that the upper-branch equilibrium solution is stabilised by the control. In Poiseuille flow, we study an unstable periodic orbit on the edge state and find that it, too, is modified very little by opposition control. We again observe that the turbulent state gradually approaches the edge state in phase space as the control amplitude is increased. In both flows, we find that the control significantly reduces the fluctuating strength of the turbulent state in phase space. However, the reduced distance between the turbulent trajectory and the edge state yields a significant reduction in turbulence lifetimes for both Couette and Poiseuille flow. This demonstrates that opposition control greatly increases the probability of the trajectory escaping from the turbulent state, which takes the form of a chaotic saddle.

Study of axis-switching and stability of laminar rectangular jets using lattice Boltzmann method

We describe here a rigorous and accurate model for the simulation of three-dimensional deformable particles (DPs). The method is very versatile, easily simulating various types of deformable particles such as vesicles, capsules, and biological cells. Each DP is resolved explicitly and advects within the surrounding Newtonian fluid. The DPs have a preferred rest shape (e.g., spherical for vesicles, or biconcave for red blood cells). The model uses a classic hybrid system: an Eulerian approach is used for the Navier-Stokes solver (the lattice Boltzmann method) and a Lagrangian approach for the evolution of the DP mesh. Coupling is accomplished through the lattice Boltzmann velocity field, which transmits force to the membranes of the DPs. The novelty of this method resides in its ability (by design) to simulate a large number of DPs within the bounds of current computational limitations: our simple and efficient approach is to (i) use the lattice Boltzmann method because of its acknowledged efficiency at low Reynolds number and its ease of parallelization, and (ii) model the DP dynamics using a coarse mesh (approximately 500 nodes) and a spring model constraining (if necessary) local area, total area, cell volume, local curvature, and local primary stresses. We show that this approach is comparable to the more common - yet numerically expensive - approach of membrane potential function, through a series of quantitative comparisons. To demonstrate the capabilities of the model, we simulate the flow of 200 densely packed red blood cells - a computationally challenging task. The model is very efficient, requiring of the order of minutes for a single DP in a 50 microm x 40 microm x 40 microm simulation domain and only hours for 200 DPs in 80 microm x 30 microm x 30 microm . Moreover, the model is highly scalable and efficient compared to other models of blood cells in flow, making it an ideal and unique tool for studying blood flow in microvessels or vesicle or capsule flow (or a mixture of different particles). In addition to directly predicting fluid dynamics in complex suspension in any geometry, the model allows determination of accurate, empirical rules which may improve existing macroscopic, continuum models.

In the paper we extend the Multiple-Relaxation-Time (MRT) Lattice Boltzmann (LB) model proposed in [Europhys. Lett., 2010, 90: 54003] so that it is suitable also for incompressible flows. To decrease the artificial oscillations, the convection term is discretized by the flux limiter scheme with splitting technique. A new model is validated by some well-known benchmark tests, including Riemann problem and Couette flow, and satisfying agreements are obtained between the simulation results and analytical ones. In order to show the merit of LB model over traditional methods, the non-equilibrium characteristics of system are solved. The simulation results are consistent with the physical analysis.

In this thesis, a strategy to model the behavior of fluids and their interaction with deformable bodies is proposed. The fluid domain is modeled by using the lattice Boltzmann method, thus analyzing the fluid dynamics by a mesoscopic point of view. It has been proved that the solution provided by this method is equivalent to solve the Navier-Stokes equations for an incompressible flow with a second-order accuracy. Slender elastic structures idealized through beam finite elements are used. Large displacements are accounted for by using the corotational formulation. Structural dynamics is computed by using the Time Discontinuous Galerkin method. Therefore, two different solution procedures are used, one for the fluid domain and the other for the structural part, respectively. These two solvers need to communicate and to transfer each other several information, i.e. stresses, velocities, displacements. In order to guarantee a continuous, effective, and mutual exchange of information, a coupling strategy, consisting of three different algorithms, has been developed and numerically tested. In particular, the effectiveness of the three algorithms is shown in terms of interface energy artificially produced by the approximate fulfilling of compatibility and equilibrium conditions at the fluid-structure interface. The proposed coupled approach is used in order to solve different fluid-structure interaction problems, i.e. cantilever beams immersed in a viscous fluid, the impact of the hull of the ship on the marine free-surface, blood flow in a deformable vessels, and even flapping wings simulating the take-off of a butterfly. The good results achieved in each application highlight the effectiveness of the proposed methodology and of the C++ developed software to successfully approach several two-dimensional fluid-structure interaction problems.

The introduction of phase change material fluid and nanofluid in micro-channel heat sink design can significantly increase the cooling capacity of the heat sink because of the unique features of these two kinds of fluids. To better assist the design of a high performance micro-channel heat sink using phase change fluid and nanofluid, the heat transfer enhancement mechanism behind the flow with such fluids must be completely understood. A detailed parametric study is conducted to further investigate the heat transfer enhancement of the phase change material particle suspension flow, by using the two-phase non-thermal-equilibrium model developed by Hao and Tao (2004). The parametric study is conducted under normal conditions with Reynolds numbers of Re=600-900 and phase change material particle concentrations ¡Ü0.25 , as well as extreme conditions of very low Reynolds numbers (Re < 50) and high phase change material particle concentration (0.5-0.7) slurry flow. By using the two newly-defined parameters, named effectiveness factor and performance index, respectively, it is found that there exists an optimal relation between the channel design parameters, particle volume fraction, Reynolds number, and the wall heat flux. The influence of the particle volume fraction, particle size, and the particle viscosity, to the phase change material suspension flow, are investigated and discussed. The model was validated by available experimental data. The conclusions will assist designers in making their decisions that relate to the design or selection of a micro-pump suitable for micro or mini scale heat transfer devices. To understand the heat transfer enhancement mechanism of the nanofluid flow from the particle level, the lattice Boltzmann method is used because of its mesoscopic feature and its many numerical advantages. By using a two-component lattice Boltzmann model, the heat transfer enhancement of the nanofluid is analyzed, through incorporating the different forces acting on the nanoparticles to the two-component lattice Boltzmann model. It is found that the nanofluid has better heat transfer enhancement at low Reynolds numbers, and the Brownian motion effect of the nanoparticles will be weakened by the increase of flow speed.