Lattice Boltzmann Simulation of 3D Gravity Currents around Obstacles

"The aim of this work is to carry out a preliminary assessment of the capacity of a two-layer Shallow Water-equivalent. Lattice Boltzmann Method formulation (SWLBM) to simulate the interaction of a gravity current with an emerging cylinder.. The Immersed Boundary technique is employed here as it facilitates the representation of complex emerging obstacles in the. SWLBM framework. The assessment is achieved by means of a comparison with numerical results obtained from a fully 3D. Navier-Stokes (NS) model. The latter is first validated against both experimental and theoretical benchmark data and then. used to obtain a reference numerical solution for the considered flow. The benchmark cases are 2D and an axisymmetric. gravity current. Numerical results show a satisfactory agreement with the benchmark data (theoretical for the 2D and. experimental for the axisymmetric gravity current). Finally, the interaction of a gravity current with a cylindrical obstacle is. considered. The 3D NS model is used as a numerical laboratory. The comparison between numerical results shows a fairly. good agreement. Conclusions are drawn based on the comparisons"