Studies of accurate multi-component lattice Boltzmann models on benchmark cases required for engineering applications

TL;DR

This paper advances lattice Boltzmann models for multi-component flows, demonstrating their accuracy and robustness on benchmark cases relevant for engineering, with improvements in surface tension independence, suppression of spurious currents, and better wetting modeling.

Contribution

It introduces a new lattice Boltzmann approach that enhances accuracy and robustness for multi-component flows in complex geometries, suitable for engineering applications.

Findings

Surface tension strength is independent of viscosity and resolution.

Spurious currents are significantly suppressed.

Numerical artifacts like thin films and artificial droplet movement are reduced.

Abstract

We present recent developments in lattice Boltzmann modeling for multi-component flows, implemented on the platform of a general purpose, arbitrary geometry solver PowerFLOW. Presented benchmark cases demonstrate the method's accuracy and robustness necessary for handling real world engineering applications at practical resolution and computational cost. The key requirements for such approach are that the relevant physical properties and flow characteristics do not strongly depend on numerics. In particular, the strength of surface tension obtained using our new approach is independent of viscosity and resolution, while the spurious currents are significantly suppressed. Using a much improved surface wetting model, undesirable numerical artifacts including thin film and artificial droplet movement on inclined wall are significantly reduced.