Cascaded lattice Boltzmann modeling and simulations of three-dimensional non-Newtonian fluid flows

Abstract

Non-Newtonian fluid flows, especially in three dimensions (3D), arise in numerous settings of interest to physics. Prior studies using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) of such flows have so far been limited mainly to two dimensions and used less robust collision models. In this paper, we develop a new 3D cascaded LBM based on central moments and multiple relaxation times (MRT) on a three-dimensional, nineteen velocity (D3Q19) lattice for simulation of generalized Newtonian (power law) fluid flows. The relaxation times of the second order moments are varied locally based on the local shear rate and parameterized by the consistency coefficient and the power law index of the nonlinear constitutive relation of the power law fluid. Numerical validation study of the 3D cascaded LBM for various benchmark problems, including the complex 3D non-Newtonian flow in a cubic cavity at different Reynolds numbers and power law index magnitudes encompassing shear thinning and shear thickening fluids, are presented. Furthermore, in order to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed 3D cascaded LBM based on central moments, numerical stability comparisons against the LBMs based on a single relaxation time model and a MRT model using raw moments are made. Numerical results demonstrate the accuracy, second order grid convergence and significant improvements in numerical stability of the 3D cascaded LBM for simulation of 3D non-Newtonian flows of power law fluids.