The Lattice Boltzmann Method Implemented on the GPU to Simulate the Turbulent Flow Over a Square Cylinder Confined in a Channel

Abstract

The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is a relatively new method for fluid flow simulations, and is recently gaining popularity due to its simple algorithm and parallel scalability. Although the method has been successfully applied to a wide range of flow physics, its capabilities in simulating turbulent flow is still under-validated. Hence, in this paper, a 3D LBM code was developed to investigate the validity of the LBM for turbulent flow simulations through large eddy simulations (LES). A GPU enabled LBM code was developed, and validated against a benchmark test case involving the flow over a square cylinder in square channel. The flow results showed good agreement with literature, and speedups of over 150 times were observed when two GPUs were used in parallel. Turbulent flow simulations were then conducted using LES with the Smagorinsky subgrid model. The methodology was first validated by computing the fully developed turbulent channel flow, and comparing the results against direct numerical simulation results. The results were in good agreement despite the relatively coarse grid. The code was then used to simulate the turbulent flow over a square cylinder confined in a channel. In order to emulate a realistic inflow at the channel inlet, an auxiliary simulation consisting of a fully developed turbulent channel flow was run in conjunction, and its velocity profile was used to enforce the inlet boundary condition for the cylinder flow simulation. Comparison of the results with experimental and numerical results revealed that the presence of the turbulent flow structures at the inlet can significantly influence the resulting flow field around the cylinder.

GPGPU implementation of a lattice Boltzmann methodology for particle transport and deposition in complex flow

“…The value of J represents the location of a lattice grid node in the linear memory and x , y and z are the spatial coordinates for this node. More details concerning the LBM fluid code implementation on a GPGPU is available in the literature (Koda, 2013; Koda and Lien, 2015).…”

Large-eddy simulation of turbulent flows over an urban building array with the ABLE-LBM and comparison with 3D MRI observed data sets

“…Several studies have been carried out for turbulent flow modeling using the MRTLBM [18][19][20] and the results generally compare well with experiments. There are other urban simulation studies using the different types of LBMs [39][40][41]45]. The results show that those LBMs are capable to simulate the urban turbulent flows and computation speed increased greatly using a GPU computer.…”

Implementation of a curved wall- and an absorbing open-boundary condition for the D3Q19 lattice Boltzmann method for simulation of incompressible fluid flows

“…The unresolved physical scales of turbulent motion by the governing equation need to capture by using an appropriate turbulence model. Many researchers have investigated the LBM in conjunction with Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) approach to develop a suitable combination for simulation of the turbulent flows [23,[25][26][27]. By using this approach, the large-scale flow is solved exactly by the distribution function f and the influence of small-scale eddies is modeled through the computing of eddy viscosity t  .…”

“…An improvement is also proposed for this approach which is discussed in details in section 3. The LES methodology with the Smagorinsky subgrid model is used for turbulent flow simulations [23]. The accuracy and efficiency of the 4 D3Q19 SRT-lattice Boltzmann method implemented are investigated by solving incompressible flows around the practical geometries at different conditions.…”