Simulation of the Lid-Driven Cavity Flow at Reynolds Numbers Between 100 and 1000 Using the Multi-Relaxation-Time Lattice Boltzmann Method

Abstract

The Multi-Relaxation-Time Lattice Boltzmann Method (MRT LBM) is used to numerically simulate the steady viscous incompressible flow in a lid-driven cavity. The simulations are performed for a range of Reynolds numbers between 100 and 1000. The simulation results include the flow streamlines which clearly show the location of the primary main vortex and the two side vortices, the horizontal and vertical velocity component profiles at different sections inside the cavity and the location of the vortices centers. The numerical results are compared against published results and show a perfect agreement. The simulation results are given for a range of Reynolds numbers not reported in the published literature. The presented results can be used for benchmarking other numerical methods in the reported range of the Reynolds number. The MRT LBM is used because it has the advantages of being an explicit method, can deal easily with complex boundaries and is highly parallelizable.