Lattice Boltzmann Method for Fluid-Thermal Systems: Status, Hotspots, Trends and Outlook

Lin Li,Ronghui Wang,Zichao Yin,Jianfei Lu,Hui Fang,Linjie Zhao,Tong Wang,Xinghua Fan,Dapeng Tan,Yuehua Wan

doi:10.1109/access.2020.2971546

Abstract

Great advances have been made with the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method for complicated fluid phenomena and fundamental thermal processes over the past three decades. This paper presents a systematic overview of the LB method from 1990 to 2018, based on bibliometric analysis and the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-E) database. The results show that China took the leading position in this field, followed by the USA and UK. The Chinese Academy of Sciences had the most publications, while the Los Alamos National Laboratory was first as far as highest average citation per paper and h-index are concerned. Physical Review E was the most productive journal and “Mechanics” was the most frequently used subject category. Keyword analysis indicated that recent research has focused on the natural convection and heat transfer of nanofluid or multiphase flow in complex porous media. Hydrothermal treatment of nanofluid with shape factor on the conditions, such as variable magnetic fields, thermal radiation and slipping boundary, were the research hotspots. Further research perspectives mainly explore the multiscale models for coupling multiple transport phenomena, morphology optimization of porous parameters, new nanoparticles with shape factor, multicomponent LB method considering Knudsen diffusion effect, LB-based hybrid methods, radiation performance or boiling-heat transfer of nanofluid, and the active control of droplets, may continue to attract more attention. Moreover, some new applications, such as phase change of metal foam, erosion induced by nanaofluid, anode circulating, 3D modeling in thermal systems with vibration, and magnetohydrodynamics microfluid devices, could be of interest going forward.

Highlights

Fluid phenomena and fundamental thermal processes are frequently encountered in many fundamental disciplines and engineering applications such as physics, chemistry, biomedicine, energy science and various branches of industrial research
With the development of numerical technologies, the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method has become one of the most rapidly growing hotspot topics; its rising prominence in academia suggests its enormous potential as a powerful methodology and strategy for fluid systems and associated thermal processes [1]–[4]
The LB method is based on molecular dynamics theory; it constructs a microcosmic particle model and utilizes the particle distribution function to obtain

Summary

Introduction

Fluid phenomena and fundamental thermal processes are frequently encountered in many fundamental disciplines and engineering applications such as physics, chemistry, biomedicine, energy science and various branches of industrial research. The associate editor coordinating the review of this manuscript and approving it for publication was Zhaojun Li. Viable numerical strategies evaluate complex fluid-dynamic phenomena such as multiscale transporting, phase change, chemical reaction and heat transfer, and in turn determine the fine property and technical reliability of these strategies. With the development of numerical technologies, the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method has become one of the most rapidly growing hotspot topics; its rising prominence in academia suggests its enormous potential as a powerful methodology and strategy for fluid systems and associated thermal processes [1]–[4]. The LB method is based on molecular dynamics theory; it constructs a microcosmic particle model and utilizes the particle distribution function to obtain

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