Open Access
ARTICLE
On the Application of the Lattice Boltzmann Method to Predict Soil Meso Seepage Characteristics
Dong Zhou1,*, Zhuoying Tan2
1 Institute of Civil Engineering, Huanghe S & T University, Zhengzhou, 450063, China
2 School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China
* Corresponding Author: Dong Zhou. Email:
(This article belongs to this Special Issue: EFD and Heat Transfer II)
Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2020, 16(5), 903-917. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2020.010363
Received 28 February 2020; Accepted 13 August 2020; Issue published 09 October 2020
Abstract
In this study, a two-dimensional approach is elaborated to study with
the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) the seepage of water in the pores of a soil.
Firstly, the D2Q9 model is selected to account for the discrete velocity distribution of water flow. In particular, impermeability is considered as macroscopic
boundary condition for the left and right domain sides, while the upper and lower
boundaries are assumed to behave as pressure boundaries controlled by different
densities. The micro-boundary conditions are implemented through the standard
rebound strategy and a non-equilibrium extrapolation scheme. Matlab is used
for the development of the related algorithm. Finally, the influence of porosity,
permeability, osmotic pressure and other factors is assessed with regard to seepage
characteristics and the ensuing results are compared with Darcy’s law. The computations show that, for fixed initial conditions, the pore structure has a certain
influence on the local velocity of seepage, but the overall state is stable, and
the average velocity of each layer is the same. The larger the pore passage is,
the faster the flow velocity is, and vice versa. For low permeability, the numerical
results are consistent with the Darcy's law. The greater the pressure difference
between the inlet and outlet of seepage, the greater the seepage rate. The relationship between them is linear (yet in good agreement with Darcy’s law).
Keywords
Cite This Article
Zhou, D., Tan, Z. (2020). On the Application of the Lattice Boltzmann Method to Predict Soil Meso Seepage Characteristics.
FDMP-Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing, 16(5), 903–917.