Numerical study of natural convection and acoustic waves using the lattice Boltzmann method

In this paper, the lattice Boltzmann method is used to study the acoustic waves propagation inside a differentially heated square enclosure filled with air. The waves are generated by a point sound source located at the center of this cavity. The main aim of this simulation is to simulate the interaction between the thermal convection and the propagation of these acoustic waves. The results have been validated with those obtained in the literature and show that the effect of natural convection on the acoustic waves propagation is almost negligible for low Rayleigh numbers (Ra ≤ 10⁴), which begins to appear when the Rayleigh number begins to become important (Ra ≥ 10⁵) and it becomes considerable for large Rayleigh numbers (Ra ≥ 10⁶) where the thermal convection is important.     

Simulating magnetohydrodynamic natural convection flow in a horizontal cylindrical annulus using the lattice Boltzmann method

A numerical study is presented about the effect of a uniform magnetic field on free convection in a horizontal cylindrical annulus using the lattice Boltzmann method. The inner and outer cylinders are maintained at uniform temperatures and it is assumed the walls are insulating with a magnetic field. Detailed numerical results of heat transfer rate, temperature, and velocity fields have been presented for Pr=0.7, Ra=10³ to 5 × 10⁴, and Ha=0 to 100. The computational results show that in a horizontal cylindrical annulus the flow and heat transfer are suppressed more effectively by a radial magnetic field. It is also found that the flow oscillations can be suppressed effectively by imposing an external radial magnetic field. The average Nusselt number increases by increasing the radius ratio while it decreases by increasing the Hartmann number. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj ). DOI 10.1002/htj.21008     

Accelerated melting of PCM in a multitube annulus‐type thermal storage unit using lattice Boltzmann simulation

Melting of the ice/water as the phase change material in a horizontal single‐tube annulus is sluggish when the stable stratification exists at the bottom of the configuration. To obviate this problem, three heat transfer enhancement techniques could be implemented using the enthalpy‐based lattice Boltzmann method with the double distribution function method to accelerate the process. The multifarious arrangements of the tubes in this horizontal annulus are investigated to expand the region affected by the natural convection. Also, the dispersion of the Cu nanoparticles in the base PCM could boost the thermal conductivity and melting rate. Finally, the metallic porous matrix made of nickel–steel alloys and saturated with the base PCM could be used to enhance the thermal conductivity of the base PCM. The solid–liquid phase change process is defined as the constrained melting of ice‐water in the tube heating mode. There is a thermal equilibrium between ice/water and the nickel–steel porous matrix and the Cu nanoparticles. The Prandtl number, Stefan number, Rayleigh number, and Darcy number are 6.2, 1, 10⁴–10⁵, and 10^?3, respectively. The volumetric concentric of the nanoparticles is between 0 and 0.02 and the porosity ranging from 1 to 0.9 in the representative elementary volume scale.     

Lattice Boltzmann simulation of natural convection and heat transfer from multiple heated blocks

This study is aimed to investigate the natural convection heat transfer from discrete heat sources (similar to heated microchips) using Bhatnagar‐Gross‐Krook lattice Boltzmann method via graphics process unit computing. The simulation is carried out separately for three and six heated blocks model for different Rayleigh numbers and fixed Prandtl number, $Pr=0.71$ (air). The uniformly heated blocks are placed at the bottom wall inside a rectangular enclosure. The enclosure is maintained by the cold temperature at its left and right walls. The top and bottom surface is maintained by adiabatic conditions apart from the regions where blocks are attached to the bottom wall. The numerical code is validated with the benchmark heat transfer problem of side‐heated square cavity as well as with an experimental study for one discrete heat source. The rate of heat transfer is presented in terms of the local Nusselt and average Nusselt number for each block. It is found that the heat transfer rate becomes maximized in the leftmost and rightmost blocks due to the adjacent cold walls. It is found that the number of blocks and their positions play a substantial role in determining their collective performance on the heat transfer rate.     

Numerical investigation of low Prandtl number effect on mixed convection in a horizontal channel by the lattice Boltzmann method

The main purpose of this study is to numerically investigate the Prandtl number effect on mixed convection in a horizontal channel heated from below using the thermal lattice Boltzmann method (TLBM). The double-population model with two different lattices is used, in particular, the D2Q9 for the velocity field and D2Q5 for the thermal field. The developed lattice Boltzmann method code to simulate the fluid flow and heat transfer in the channel was validated with available literature results based on classical numerical methods, especially the finite volume method for Pr = 6.4 and the finite difference method for Pr = 0.667. The results obtained with the TLBM have shown good agreement with the conventional methods cited. The dynamic and thermal characteristics of the fluid flow were examined in the field of low Prandtl number, such that 0.05 ≤ Pr ≤ 0.667, and also compared to Pr = 6.4; for Ra = 2420 and 7400, the Reynolds number was fixed at 1. The results showed that the influence is relatively significant for the dynamic structure of flow convection for Pr ≤ 0.3 and is little influential beyond this value.     

Numerical study on natural convection in a square enclosure containing a rectangular heated cylinder

In this paper, the natural convection in a square enclosure with a rectangular heated cylinder is investigated via the lattice Boltzmann method. A detailed study is conducted on the effect of the cylinder width and the Rayleigh number on the fluid flow and heat transfer. The flow structures and heat transfer patterns are classified into eight buoyant regimes, i.e., four steady regimes, two periodic regimes, one multiple periodic regime, and one chaos regime, two of which are reported for the first time.     

Study on forcing schemes in the thermal lattice Boltzmann method for simulation of natural convection flow problems

The present study addresses the effect of various schemes for applying an external force term on the accuracy and performance of the thermal lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for simulation of free convection problems. Herein, the forcing schemes of Luo, shifted velocity method, Guo, and exact difference method are applied by considering three velocity discrete models of D2Q4, D2Q5, and D2Q9. The accuracy and performance of these schemes are evaluated with the simulation of three natural convection problems, namely, free convection in a closed cavity, in a square enclosure with a hot obstacle inside, and the Rayleigh-Benard problem. The obtained results based on the present thermal LBM with different forcing schemes and velocity discrete models are compared with the existing experimental and numerical data in the literature. This comparison study indicates that imposing all employed forcing schemes leads to similar performance for the simulation of free convection problems studied at the middle range of Rayleigh numbers. It is found that the Luo forcing scheme is simple for implementation in comparison with the other three forcing schemes and provides the results with acceptable accuracy at moderate Rayleigh numbers. At higher Rayleigh numbers, however, the Guo scheme is not only numerically stable but a more precise forcing scheme in comparison with the other three methods. It is illustrated that employing the discrete velocity model of D2Q4 has more appropriate numerical stability along with less computational cost in comparison with two other discrete velocity models for simulation of natural convection heat transfer.     

Numerical simulation of natural convection in an open-ended square cavity filled with porous medium by lattice Boltzmann method

In the present work, natural convection in an open-ended square cavity packed with porous medium is simulated. The double-population approach is used to simulate hydrodynamic and thermal fields, and the Taylor series expansion and the least-squares-based lattice Boltzmann method has been implemented to extend the thermal model. The effect of a porous medium is taken into account by introducing the porosity into the equilibrium distribution function and adding a force term to the evolution equation. The Brinkman–Forchheimer equation, which includes the viscous and inertial terms, is applied to predict the heat transfer and fluid dynamics in the non-Darcy regime. The present model is validated with the previous literature. A comprehensive parametric study of natural convective flows is performed for various values of Rayleigh number and porosity. It is found that these two parameters have considerable influence on heat transfer.     

Numerical simulation of mixed convection flows in a square lid-driven cavity partially heated from below using nanofluid

The present numerical study deals with mixed convection in a square lid-driven cavity partially heated from below and filled with water-base nanofluid containing various volume fractions of Cu, Ag, Al₂O₃ and TiO₂. Finite difference method was employed to solve the dimensionless governing equations of the problem. The effects of governing parameters, namely, Reynolds number, solid volume fraction, different values of the heat source length and different locations of the heat source on the streamlines and isotherms contours as well as Nusselt number and average Nusselt number along the heat source were considered. The present results are validated by favorable comparisons with previously published results. The results of the problem are presented in graphical and tabular forms and discussed.     

Numerical simulation of laminar and turbulent buoyancy-driven flows using a lattice Boltzmann based algorithm

The capability of simulating natural and forced convection has been recently developed and integrated into PowerFLOW, a general purpose CFD solver based on the lattice Boltzmann algorithm. Several benchmark tests have been performed to validate this buoyancy model. Two typical cases of Rayleigh-Bénard convection with the Rayleigh number slightly above (Ra=2000) and below (Ra=1500) the critical Rayleigh number of 1708 were tested to verify the conceptual and algorithmic correctness of the buoyancy model. Then simulations of turbulent natural convection in an enclosed tall cavity with two different Rayleigh numbers, Ra=0.86×10⁶ and Ra=1.43×10⁶, were carried out and found to be in a very good agreement with the experiments of Betts and Bokhari.     

Numerical simulations of gas resonant oscillations in a closed tube using lattice Boltzmann method

Numerical studies are presented for gas resonant oscillations in a two-dimensional closed tube using the lattice Boltzmann method. A multi-distribution function model of thermal lattice Boltzmann method is adopted in this work. The oscillating flow of the gas is generated by a plane piston at one end, and reflected by the other closed end. Both isothermal and adiabatic walls of the closed tube are considered. Boundary treatments such as moving adiabatic boundary are given in detail. The time dependent velocity, density and temperature at various locations of the tube for various frequencies and wall boundary conditions are presented. Shock waves with resonant frequency or slightly off-resonant frequencies are numerically captured. From the simulation results, the gas flow and heat transfer characteristics obtained are consistent qualitatively with those from previous simulations using conventional numerical methods.     

格子Boltzmann方法模拟泡沫金属内相变材料热传导融化传热过程

基于局部热非平衡条件下泡沫金属内热传导融化相变传热的非线性双温度方程,在表征单元尺度上构建双温度分布函数格子Boltzmann模型,其中相变非线性源项处理采用焓法迭代求解。数值模拟了金属骨架与相变材料的温度分布情况,重点分析了孔径、金属骨架与填充材料热传导比和Stefan数等对局部热非平衡效应的影响。模拟结果表明,孔径越大、金属骨架与填充材料热传导比越大,局部热非平衡效应越明显;相变过程的存在,加大了局部热非平衡效应,并且Stefan数越低局部热非平衡效应则越大。     

基于LBM多孔介质复合腔体交界面热滑移效应的研究

本文采用格子Boltzmann方法对真实多孔介质复合腔体内的对流换热进行研究,分析了不同Ra数、多孔介质高度Y和厚度δ条件下交界面处的热滑移效应,并确定热滑移系数。利用X-CT技术对真实多孔介质材料进行断层扫描,获得实际材料内部结构图片,并进行图片处理,再导入格子Boltzmann模型中进行求解。计算结果表明：等效热滑移系数随高度Y的影响较大,靠近壁面或固体表面的系数偏大,而间隙处的系数偏小,但两处各自的值基本相同;Ra数和厚度δ的变化对等效热滑移系数的作用较小。     

基于格子Boltzmann方法的饱和土壤渗流与传热数值模拟

本文利用随机多孔介质生成算法重构了与真实土壤外貌相近的多孔介质几何结构。通过引入不可压耦合双分布格子Boltzmann模型（lattice Boltzmann model ,LBM）对孔隙尺度下单相饱和土壤渗流和传热进行了模拟。着重讨论了不同渗流压差、孔隙率、土壤固体颗粒尺寸分布对流动与传热的影响。结果表明：土壤渗流速度与渗流压差呈线性单调递增关系,平均温度随渗流压差增加而增大,但温升速率逐渐减缓;当孔隙率增大时,渗流速度增加,且当孔隙率大于0.58时,对流换热作用迅速增强,土壤温升速率显著加快;对于相同孔隙率,当土壤固相颗粒尺寸较大时,流动出现典型优先流效应;随着土壤固相颗粒尺寸减小,土壤温度变化逐渐趋于平缓,平均温度降低。     

Numerical study on permeability of gas diffusion layer with porosity gradient using lattice Boltzmann method

In this paper, the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) has been employed to explore the permeability and internal fluid flow behavior of the gas diffusion layer (GDL). Three different non-uniform porosity distributions are designed as linear type, stepped type, and transitional type and compared with constant porosity samples. Results show that the linear porosity gradient distribution leads to higher permeability values compared with the other two types. For samples with total porosity of 0.65 and 0.75, optimal porosity gradient distributions bring about an enhancement of permeability have been found. The impact of porosity gradient distribution on the velocity field is presented. Dependencies of permeability with porosity and tortuosity are demonstrated through several fitted equations.     

Improvement of the heat transfer quality by air cooling of three-heated obstacles in a horizontal channel using the lattice Boltzmann method

This study focuses on the cooling of three heated obstacles with different heights mounted on the bottom of the channel wall using different aspects that influence the enhancement of the heat exchange, as is known in the concept of cooling electronic devices. The lattice Boltzmann method associated with multiple relaxation times (LBM-MRT) was adopted to simulate the physical configurations of the studied system. In this context, the D2Q9 and D2Q5 models are applied to describe the fluid flow behavior and conjugate heat transfer, respectively. The evaluation of heat exchange between the cold fluid and three-heated obstacles has been accurately analyzed under the effect of several parameters such as Reynolds number, obstacle spacing, and thermal conductivity ratio. In addition, the setting of two and three fluids flow inlets were also studied. The results are presented in terms of streamlines, isotherms, and local Nusselt curves. The heat transfer increases with increasing solid-fluid thermal conductivity. It is also more pronounced for large Reynolds numbers. Moreover, the heat transfer significantly enhances for the second and third obstacles when obstacle spacing increases. The improvement of the heat transfer is performed by the implementation of several jet flows in the studied system.     

Lattice Boltzmann Simulation of Natural Convection in a Square Cavity with Linearly Heated Wall(s)

In this study, the lattice Boltzmann method is used in order to investigate the natural convection in a cavity with linearly heated wall(s). The bottom wall is heated uniformly and the vertical wall(s) are heated linearly, whereas the top wall is insulated. Investigation has been conducted for Rayleigh numbers of 10³ to 10⁵, while Prandtl number is varied from 0.7 to 10. The effects of an increase in Rayleigh number and Prandtl number on streamlines, isotherm counters, local Nusselt number and average Nusselt number are depicted. It has been observed that the average Nusselt number at the bottom wall augments with an increase in Prandtl number.     

Interactions between hybrid nanosized particles and convection melting inside an enclosure with partially active walls: 2D lattice Boltzmann-based numerical investigation

The ice melting is investigated inside a square cavity with two isothermally partially active walls. The concept of dispersing hybrid alumina–Cu nanoparticles and hybrid silica–multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) nanoparticles is recommended for thermal performance enhancement in this thermal energy storage (TES) system. The two-dimensional explicit lattice Boltzmann convection melting scheme in the single-phase model is applied to account for the natural convection flow induced in the melt region and evolution of the solid–liquid interface. The complete melting time for the pure phase change material (PCM) using case (II) is 33.3% lower compared with other cases. If the price of hybrid Al₂O₃–Cu nanoparticles and heat storage capacity is important, the full melt time diminishes by 16.6% with a volume fraction of 0.01 in case (II). Once hybrid silica–MWCNT nanoparticles with a volume fraction of 0.01 are utilized inside case (II), the lowest charging time is achieved. The complete melting time abates by 23.66% in contrast to the pure PCM melting. The use of single/hybrid nanoparticles to enhance the PCM melting is not necessarily economical as efficient positions of active parts could further lessen the charging time. The efficiency of hybrid nanoparticles is linked to the type and weight proportions of nanoparticles, and positions of thermally active parts.     

基于格子玻尔兹曼方法的横向交变质量力对核沸腾影响的数值分析

采用格子玻尔兹曼方法的单组份伪势模型与有限差分耦合的混合热格子玻尔兹曼模型,对在横向交变质量力作用下的单汽泡核态沸腾过程进行了研究,探讨了在不同接触角和过热度下,横向交变质量力的振幅和交变频率对汽泡脱离底壁的脱离特性的影响。结果表明,施加横向交变质量力会造成汽泡脱离直径减小,同时加速汽泡脱离底壁。其次,壁面越疏水,汽泡的脱离行为受到横向交变质量力的影响越大;壁面过热度越大,汽泡的脱离行为受到横向质量力的影响也越大。另外,在模拟工况下,当横向交变质量力的振幅大于0.01时,添加横向交变质量力会使汽泡的脱离直径与脱离周期均减小;而横向交变质量力的交变频率仅在某一频段时,使得汽泡的脱离周期减小。