Lattice Boltzmann models: an efficient and simple approach to complex flow problems

The cellular automata (CA) and lattice Boltzmann (LB) methods are techniques aimed at modeling a system of particles, such as a fluid for instance, in terms of a mesoscopic dynamics of fictitious particles interacting on a discrete space-time universe. Due to their computational structure, these methods offer a natural framework to model complex phenomena, with flexibility, efficiency and easy amenability to parallelism. The CA and LB approaches can be combined to describe a system where point-particles are transported in a fluid flow. This model is used to simulate various erosion processes in air or water currents. Special emphasis is placed on explaining the formation of meanders in rivers.