Pseudo-potential Lattice Boltzmann Method with an Improved Forcing Scheme for the Cumulant Collision Model

This paper proposes an improved cumulant collision model for the pseudo-potential lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) to increase the stability of multiphase flow simulations involving low viscosities. This model is based on the work of Kharmiani et al. in (J Stat Phys 175: 47, 2019), which can be extended regardless of the collision model. The original cumulant collision model (Geier et al. in Comput Math Appl 70:507, 2015) causes a non-physical shape of droplets in pseudo-potential LBM because only the first-order central moments are considered in the forcing scheme. The improved cumulant collision model proposed in this paper applies the central moment forcing scheme to the original cumulant model to cover the high-order central moments. Several numerical simulations were carried out to validate the proposed model. First, the problem of a stationary liquid layer was solved, where the proposed model was demonstrated to be thermodynamically consistent. Second, the problem of a stationary droplet was solved, where the result agreed well with Laplace’s law. Third, the problem of a droplet impact on a liquid film was solved, where the crown radius agreed well with the analytical and numerical results available. Fourth, the simulation results carried out with the raw moment, central moment, and the proposed improved cumulant collision models were compared, as the liquid and vapor viscosities were gradually lowered. With all else being equal, only the lattice Boltzmann method with the proposed improved cumulant collision model was able to successfully simulate a density ratio of 720 and a Reynolds number of \({\mathbf {8.7}}{\mathbf {\times 10}}^{{\textbf{4}}}\).