Lattice Boltzmann simulation of fluid flow through random packing beds of Platonic particles: Effect of particle characteristics

The influence of particle characteristics, such as shape, size, and volume fraction, on the permeability of porous media was investigated by combining the randomly packed beds of Platonic particles with the lattice Boltzmann method. Quantitative solutions of the permeability as a function of these characteristic parameters in mono-sized particle packing structures were obtained. The D3Q19 model is presented here, which was tested by three simple benchmark tests. A series of packed beds of Platonic particles as well as spherical particles were generated in a random manner. Numerical studies on factors influencing the permeability of materials were carried out to comprehensively study their impacts. The results revealed that the permeability significantly increased with increasing equivalent diameter of the particles (or decreasing volume fraction). At a fixed size and volume fraction of particles, the permeability of the Platonic particle packing structures was also influenced by particle morphology: permeability significantly reduced as the particle sphericity decreased. The permeability of tetrahedral particle packing structures dropped by more than 40% compared with that of corresponding spherical particle systems. (C) 2019 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.