Lattice Boltzmann method on curvilinear coordinates system: Flow around a circular cylinder

Using an interpolation-based strategy, the lattice Boltzmann method is extended to apply to general curvilinear coordinate systems. As an example, a cylindrical coordinate system is used to simulate two-dimensional flow around a circular cylinder. Numerical simulations are carried out for impulsive initial conditions with Reynolds numbers up to 10(4). The agreement of our results with previous computational and experimental results is satisfactory. Compared with previous lattice Boltzmann simulations of the same problem, our new approach greatly enhances the computational efficiency. (C) 1997 Academic Press.