A factorized central moment lattice Boltzmann method

Abstract

We determine appropriate attractors for higher than third-order central moments for the relaxation process in three-dimensional lattice Boltzmann methods. It was previously assumed that the appropriate attractors for the relaxation of these moments were their equilibria values as derived from a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. However, when the attractor for fourth-order central moments is derived that way, the solution of three-dimensional lattice Boltzmann differs significantly from the analytical solution of the Navier-Stokes equation for simple test cases like Poiseuille flow. We show that the Navier-Stokes solution is recovered when we chose products of low order central moments as the attractors of the higher order central moments.