A New Boundary Condition for Three-Dimensional Lattice Boltzmann Simulations of Capillary Filling in Rough Micro-Channels

A new boundary condition,aimed at inhibiting near-wall condensation effects in lattice Boltzmann simulations of capillary flows in micro-corrugated channels,is introduced.The new boundary condition is validated against analytical solutions for smooth channels and demonstrated for the case of three-dimensional microflows over randomly corrugated walls.

Lattice Boltzmann Modeling of Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Droplets Under an Oscillatory Electric Field

We numerically study the dynamics of quasi-two dimensional cholesteric liquid crystal droplets in the presence of a time-dependent electric field,rotating at constant angular velocity.A surfactant sitting at the droplet interface is also introduced to prevent droplet coalescence.The dynamics is modeled following a hybrid numerical approach,where a standard lattice Boltzmann technique solves the Navier-Stokes equation and a finite difference scheme integrates the evolution equations of liquid crystal and surfactant.Our results show that,once the field is turned on,the liquid crystal rotates coherently triggering a concurrent orbital motion of both droplets around each other,an effect due to the momentum transfer to the surrounding fluid.In addition the topological defects,resulting from the conflict orientation of the liquid crystal within the drops,exhibit a chaotic-like motion in cholesterics with a high pitch,in contrast with a regular one occurring along circular trajectories observed in nematics drops.Such behavior is found to depend on magnitude and frequency of the applied field as well as on the anchoring of the liquid crystal at the droplet interface.These findings are quantitatively evaluated by measuring the angular velocity of fluid and drops for various frequencies of the applied field.

Migration and accumulation mechanisms and main controlling factors of tight oil enrichment in a continental lake basin

Based on the typical dissection of various onshore tight oil fields in China,the tight oil migration and accumulation mechanism and enrichment-controlling factors in continental lake basins are analyzed through nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR)displacement physical simulation and Lattice Boltzmann numerical simulation by using the samples of source rock,reservoir rock and crude oil.In continental lake basins,the dynamic forces driving hydrocarbon generation and expulsion of high-quality source rocks are the foundational power that determines the charging efficiency and accumulation effect of tight oil,the oil migration resistance is a key element that influences the charging efficiency and accumulation effect of tight oil,and the coupling of charging force with pore-throat resistance in tight reservoir controls the tight oil accumulation and sweet spot enrichment.The degree of tight oil enrichment in continental lake basins is controlled by four factors:source rock,reservoir pore-throat size,anisotropy of reservoir structure,and fractures.The high-quality source rocks control the near-source distribution of tight oil,reservoir physical properties and pore-throat size are positively correlated with the degree of tight oil enrichment,the anisotropy of reservoir structure reveals that the parallel migration rate is the highest,and intralayer fractures can improve the migration and accumulation efficiency and the oil saturation.

Lattice approaches to packed column simulations

This work presents a review of the findings into the ability of a digitally based particle packing algorithm, called DigiPac, to predict bed structure in a variety of packed columns, for a range of generic pellet shapes frequently used in the chemical and process engineering industries. Resulting macroscopic properties are compared with experimental data derived from both invasive and non-destructive measurement techniques. Additionally, fluid velocity distributions, through samples of the resulting bed structures, are analysed using lattice Boltzmann method （LBM） simulations and are compared against experimental data from the literature.

Lattice Boltzmann simulation of fluid flow through coal reservoir's fractal pore structure

The influences of fractal pore structure in coal reservoir on coalbed methane(CBM) migration were analyzed in detail by coupling theoretical models and numerical methods.Different types of fractals were generated based on the construction thought of the standard Menger Sponge to model the 3D nonlinear coal pore structures.Then a correlation model between the permeability of fractal porous medium and its pore-size-distribution characteristics was derived using the parallel and serial modes and verified by Lattice Boltzmann Method(LBM).Based on the coupled method,porosity(ф),fractal dimension of pore structure(Db),pore size range(rmin,rmax) and other parameters were systematically analyzed for their influences on the permeability(ф) of fractal porous medium.The results indicate that:① the channels connected by pores with the maximum size(rmax) dominate the permeability,approximating in the quadratic law;② the greater the ratio of r max and r min is,the higher is;③ the relationship between D b and follows a negative power law model,and breaks into two segments at the position where Db ≌2.5.Based on the results above,a predicting model of fractal porous medium permeability was proposed,formulated as k=cfrnmax,where C and n(approximately equal to 2) are constants and f is an expression only containing parameters of fractal pore structure.In addition,the equivalence of the new proposed model for porous medium and the Kozeny-Carman model k=Crn was verified at Db =2.0.

Direct numerical simulation of particle-fluid systems by combining time-driven hard-sphere model and lattice Boltzmann method

A coupled numerical method for the direct numerical simulation of particle-fluid systems is formulated and implemented, resolving an order of magnitude smaller than particle size. The particle motion is described by the time-driven hard-sphere model, while the hydrodynamic equations governing fluid flow are solved by the lattice Boltzmann method （LBM）, Particle-fluid coupling is realized by an immersed boundary method （IBM）, which considers the effect of boundary on surrounding fluid as a restoring force added to the governing equations of the fluid. The proposed scheme is validated in the classical flow-around-cylinder simulations, and preliminary application of this scheme to fluidization is reported, demonstrating it to be a promising computational strategy for better understanding complex behavior in particle-fluid systems.

Lattice Boltzmann model for simulation on leaching process of weathered elution-deposited rare earth ore

The lattice Boltzmann model with coupled chemical reaction was proposed to simulate the ion exchange process of rare earth leaching and verified by comparison with both empirical correlation of mass transfer coefficient and unreacted-core shrinking model. By simulation, the zonation phenomenon of leaching reagent in the leaching column was presented, and the breakthrough curve of leaching reagent was obtained. When t=50 s, there existed the saturated and exchange zones, and the leaching reagent concentration decreased gradually from 20 to 9.3 g/L. In accordance with the breakthrough curve, the breakthrough capacity of ion-type rare earth ore and the adsorbed ion concentration of leaching reagent were derived, the time of t=25 s was the breakthrough point of ammonium ion in leaching reagent and the breakthrough capacity of the rare earth ore was 125 g/L. Besides, the chemical kinetics parameters used for the solute transfer process of rare earth leaching were obtained by the simulation and then were used to determine the rate-limiting steps of rare earth leaching process.

Lattice Boltzmann method for simulating particle-fluid interactions

The lattice Boltzmann method （LBM） has gained increasing popularity in the last two decades as an alternative numerical approach for solving fluid flow problems. One of the most active research areas in the LBM is its application in particle-fluid systems, where the advantage of the LBM in efficiency and parallel scalability has made it superior to many other direct numerical simulation （DNS） techniques. This article intends to provide a brief review of the application of the LBM in particle-fluid systems. The numerical techniques in the LBM pertaining to simulations of particles are discussed, with emphasis on the advanced treatment for boundary conditions on the particle-fluid interface. Other numerical issues, such as the effect of the internal fluid, are also briefly described. Additionally, recent efforts in using the LBM to obtain closures for particle-fluid drag force are also reviewed.

Numerical study and acceleration of LBM-RANS simulation of turbulent flow

The coupled models of LBM （Lattice Boltzmann Method） and RANS （Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes） are more practical for the transient simulation of mixing processes at large spatial and temporal scales such as crude oil mixing in large-diameter storage tanks. To keep the efficiency of parallel computation of LBM, the RANS model should also be explicitly solved; whereas to keep the numerical stability the implicit method should be better for PANS model. This article explores the numerical stability of explicit methods in 2D cases on one hand, and on the other hand how to accelerate the computation of the coupled model of LBM and an implicitly solved RANS model in 3D cases. To ensure the numerical stability and meanwhile avoid the use of empirical artificial lim- itations on turbulent quantities in 2D cases, we investigated the impacts of collision models in LBM （LBGK, MRT） and the numerical schemes for convection terms （WENO, TVD） and production terms （FDM, NEQM） in an explic- itly solved standard k-e model. The combination of MRT and TVD or MRT and NEQM can be screened out for the 2D simulation of backward-facing step flow even at Re = 107. This scheme combination, however, may still not guarantee the numerical stability in 3D cases and hence much finer grids are required, which is not suitable for the simulation of industrial-scale processes.Then we proposed a new method to accelerate the coupled model of LBM with RANS （implicitly solved）. When implemented on multiple GPUs, this new method can achieve 13.5-fold accelera- tion relative to the original coupled model and 40-fold acceleration compared to the traditional CFD simulation based on Finite Volume （FV） method accelerated by multiple CPUs. This study provides the basis for the transient flow simulation of larger spatial and temporal scales in industrial applications with LBM-RANS methods.

Microdroplet targeting induced by substrate curvature

Fundamental understanding of the wettability of curved substrates is crucial for the applications of microdroplets in colloidal science, microfluidics, and heat exchanger technologies. Here we report via lattice Boltzmann simulations and energetic analysis that microdroplets show an ability of transporting selectively to appropriate substrates solely according to substrate shape（curvature）, which is called the substrate-curvature-dependent droplet targeting because of its similarity to protein targeting by which proteins are transported to the appropriate destinations in the cell. Two dynamic pathways of droplet targeting are identified： one is the Ostwald ripening-like liquid transport between separated droplets via evaporating droplets on more curved convex（or less curved concave） surfaces and growing droplets on less curved convex（or more curved concave） surfaces, and the other is the directional motion of a droplet through contacting simultaneously substrates of different curvatures. Then we demonstrate analytically that droplet targeting is a thermodynamically driven process. The driving force for directional motion of droplets is the surface-curvature-induced modulation of the work of adhesion, while the Ostwald ripening-like transport is ascribed to the substrate-curvature-induced change of droplet curvature radius. Our findings of droplet targeting are potentially useful for a tremendous range of applications, such as microfluidics, thermal control, and microfabrication.

Gas–solid interaction force from direct numerical simulation (DNS) of binary systems with extreme diameter ratios

Fluid-particle systems as commonly encountered in chemical, metallurgical and petroleum industries are mostly polydisperse in nature. However, the relations used to describe fluid-particle interactions are originally derived from monodisperse systems, with ad hoc modifications to account for polydispersity. In previous work it was shown that for bidisperse systems with moderate diameter ratios of 1：2 to 1：4, this approach leads to discrepancies, and a correction factor is needed. In this work we demonstrate that this correction factor also holds for more extreme diameter ratios of 1：5, 1：7 and 1： 10, although the force on the large particles is slightly overestimated when using the correction factor. The main origin of the correction is that the void surrounding the large particles becomes less in case ofa bidisperse mixture, as compared to a monodisperse system with the same volume fraction. We further investigated this discrepancy by calculating the volume per particle by means of Voronoi tessellation.