Performance investigation of 2D lattice Boltzmann simulation of forces on a circular cylinder

Abstract

The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is employed to simulate the uniform flow past a circular cylinder. The performance of the two-dimensional LBM model on the prediction of force coefficients and vortex shedding frequency is investigated. The local grid refinement technique and second-order boundary condition for curved walls are applied in the calculations. It is found that the calculated vortex shedding frequency, drag coefficient and lift coefficient are consistent with experimental results at Reynolds numbers lower than 300. For the high Reynolds number flow, although the simulation by the combined model of LBM and large eddy simulation method is numerically stable, the simulated results deviate from those of experiments, similar to the reported results by conventional numerical methods. It is suggested that this is mainly due to the three-dimensionality of the flow.