Theoretical and numerical study of axisymmetric lattice Boltzmann models

The forcing term in the lattice Boltzmann equation (LBE) is usually used to mimic Navier-Stokes equations with a body force. To derive axisymmetric model, forcing terms are incorporated into the two-dimensional (2D) LBE to mimic the additional axisymmetric contributions in 2D Navier-Stokes equations in cylindrical coordinates. Many axisymmetric lattice Boltzmann D2Q9 models were obtained through the Chapman-Enskog expansion to recover the 2D Navier-Stokes equations in cylindrical coordinates [I. Halliday, Phys. Rev. E 64, 011208 (2001); K. N. Premnath and J. Abraham, Phys. Rev. E 71, 056706 (2005); T. S. Lee, H. Huang, and C. Shu, Int. J. Mod. Phys. C 17, 645 (2006); T. Reis and T. N. Phillips, Phys. Rev. E 75, 056703 (2007); J. G. Zhou, Phys. Rev. E 78, 036701 (2008)]. The theoretical differences between them are discussed in detail. Numerical studies were also carried out by simulating two different flows to make a comparison on these models' accuracy and tau sensitivity. It is found all these models are able to obtain accurate results and have the second-order spatial accuracy. However, the model C [J. G. Zhou, Phys. Rev. E 78, 036701 (2008)] is the most stable one in terms of tau sensitivity. It is also found that if density of fluid is defined in its usual way and not directly relevant to source terms, the lattice Boltzmann model seems more stable.