Turbulent channel flow simulations using a coarse-grained extension of the lattice Boltzmann method

A coarse-grained version of the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method is developed with the intent of enhancing its geometrical flexibility so as to be able to tackle a wider class of flows of engineering interest. To this purpose, the original uniform LB technique is combined with standard finite-volume techniques based upon a blend of piecewise constant and piecewise linear interpolation schemes. A series of validation tests for the three-dimensional channel flow with one-dimensional (cross-channel) statistical behaviour are presented. The main conclusion is that, although the method does indeed mark a significant stride forward with respect to the original uniform LB scheme, better interpolation schemes should be developed before the coarse-grain LB can become fully competitive with modern CFD schemes.