A high-order compact finite-difference lattice Boltzmann method for simulation of steady and unsteady incompressible flows

A high-order compact finite-difference lattice Boltzmann method (CFDLBM) is proposed and applied to accurately compute steady and unsteady incompressible flows. Herein, the spatial derivatives in the lattice Boltzmann equation are discretized by using the fourth-order compact FD scheme, and the temporal term is discretized with the fourth-order Runge-Kutta scheme to provide an accurate and efficient incompressible flow solver. A high-order spectral-type low-pass compact filter is used to stabilize the numerical solution. An iterative initialization procedure is presented and applied to generate consistent initial conditions for the simulation of unsteady flows. A sensitivity study is also conducted to evaluate the effects of grid size, filtering, and procedure of boundary conditions implementation on accuracy and convergence rate of the solution. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed solution procedure based on the CFDLBM method are also examined by comparison with the classical LBM for different flow conditions. Two test cases considered herein for validating the results of the incompressible steady flows are a two-dimensional (2-D) backward-facing step and a 2-D cavity at different Reynolds numbers. Results of these steady solutions computed by the CFDLBM are thoroughly compared with those of a compact FD Navier-Stokes flow solver. Three other test cases, namely, a 2-D Couette flow, the Taylor's vortex problem, and the doubly periodic shear layers, are simulated to investigate the accuracy of the proposed scheme in solving unsteady incompressible flows. Results obtained for these test cases are in good agreement with the analytical solutions and also with the available numerical and experimental results. The study shows that the present solution methodology is robust, efficient, and accurate for solving steady and unsteady incompressible flow problems even at high Reynolds numbers. Copyright (C) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.