On numerical diffusion of simplified lattice Boltzmann method

In this article, we analyze the numerical diffusion in the recently developed simplified lattice Boltzmann method (SLBM) and propose amending strategies towards lower numerical diffusion. It is noted that, in the original SLBM, the intermediate flow properties are utilized to evaluate the nonequilibrium distribution function, which may bring in excessive numerical diffusion. In the revised scheme, this evaluation strategy is nurtured by using the corrected flow properties to calculate the nonequilibrium distribution function. In the meantime, the numerically evaluated nonequilibrium distribution function only approximately fulfills the conservation relationship in the second order of accuracy. Although such approximation does not violate the global order of accuracy, offsetting the extra error would contribute to reducing the numerical diffusion. After implementing the proposed amending strategies, the revised SLBM (RSLBM) is validated through three numerical examples. The results indicate that RSLBM bears comparable order of accuracy as the original SLBM but shows lower numerical error on the same mesh size. And the reduced numerical error facilitates recovery of delicate flow structures. The proposed RSLBM can be flexibly implemented on nonuniform or body-fitted meshes, and in three-dimensional simulations.