Application of the lattice Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook method to the simulation of internal pressure-driven flow

Recent modifications to the two-speed, two-dimensional lattice Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook method eliminate compressibility errors from the simulation of macroscopic fluids governed by the steady-state Navier-Stokes equation. We describe the means by which this modified scheme makes it possible to compute both pressure drops and flow fields, bringing internal, pressure driven, isothermal flows within the scope of the method. The scheme is applied to the simulation of flow of a viscous incompressible fluid past a sudden expansion in an infinite aspect ratio duct (back-facing step geometry). Results are presented and compared with experiment and theory over a range of Reynolds number. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.