Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) enables efficient computation of flows by providing high resolution in critical regions while allowing for coarsening in areas where fine detail is unnecessary. While early AMR software packages relied solely on CPU parallelization, the widespread adoption of heterogeneous computing systems has led to GPU-accelerated implementations. In these hybrid approaches, simulation data typically resides on the GPU, and mesh management and adaptation occur exclusively on the CPU, necessitating frequent data transfers between them. A more efficient strategy is to adapt and maintain the entire mesh structure exclusively on the GPU, eliminating these transfers. Because of its inherent parallelism, the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) has been widely implemented in hybrid AMR frameworks. This work presents a GPU-native algorithm for AMR using a block-based forest of octrees approach, implemented in both two and three dimensions as open-source C++/CUDA code. The implementation includes a Lattice Boltzmann solver for weakly compressible flow, though the underlying grid refinement procedure is compatible with any solver operating on cell-centered block-based grids. The lid-driven cavity and flow past a square cylinder benchmarks validate the algorithm's effectiveness across multiple velocity sets in both single- and double-precision. Tests conducted on consumer and datacenter-grade GPUs demonstrate its versatility across different hardware platforms.
Link to repository: https://github.com/KhodrJ/AGAL
The present study proposes a highly accurate lattice Boltzmann direct coupling cell-vertex algorithm, well suited for industrial purposes, making it highly valuable for aeroacoustic applications. It is indeed known that the convection of vortical structures across a grid refinement interface, where cell size is abruptly doubled, is likely to generate spurious noise that may corrupt the solution over the whole computational domain. This issue becomes critical in the case of aeroacoustic simulations, where accurate pressure estimations are of paramount importance. Consequently, any interfering n…
In this paper, a new progressive mesh algorithm is introduced in order to perform fast physical simulations by the use of a lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) on a single-node multi-GPU architecture. This algorithm is able to mesh automatically the simulation domain according to the propagation of fluids. This method can also be useful in order to perform various types of simulations on complex geometries. The use of this algorithm combined with the massive parallelism of GPUs allows to obtain very good performance in comparison with the static mesh method used in literature. Several simulations a…
We describe the implementation of kinetic solvers in 1d2v phase space using adaptive Cartesian mesh. Spherical coordinates in velocity space are used to simplify the Lorentz and Fokker-Planck collisional operators. The key capabilities of the new solvers are illustrated for electron elastic scattering, acceleration, continuous energy loss in collisions, and ionization processes in weakly-ionized plasma. We have also implemented two-stream approach to reduce computational cost for studies of gas breakdown dynamics in the presence of runaway electrons. The benefits and limitations of the non-spl…
The Poisson-Boltzmann equation is a widely used model to study the electrostatics in molecular solvation. Its numerical solution using a boundary integral formulation requires a mesh on the molecular surface only, yielding accurate representations of the solute, which is usually a complicated geometry. Here, we utilize adjoint-based analyses to form two goal-oriented error estimates that allows us to determine the contribution of each discretization element (panel) to the numerical error in the solvation free energy. This information is useful to identify high-error panels to then refine them …
We propose the application of the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) technique to a compressible lattice Boltzmann model for the simulation of moving boundary problems on unstructured meshes. To that end, the kinetic equations are mapped from a moving physical domain into a fixed computational domain. The resulting equations in the computational domain are then numerically solved using the second-order accurate finite element reconstruction on an unstructured mesh. It is shown that the problem regarding the geometric conservation law (GCL), which needs a special treatment in the ALE Navier-St…
Boiling is a complex phenomenon where different non-linear physical interactions take place and for which the quantitative modeling of the mechanism involved is not fully developed yet. In the last years, many works have been published focusing on the numerical analysis of this problem. However, a lack of numerical works assessing quantitatively the sensitivity of these numerical simulations to grid parameters can be identified, especially for the Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The main goal of this work is to propose a mesh refinement methodology for simulating phase-change heat transfer pro…
An Adaptive Mesh in Phase Space (AMPS) methodology has been developed for solving multi-dimensional kinetic equations by the discrete velocity method. A Cartesian mesh for both configuration (r) and velocity (v) spaces is produced using a tree of trees data structure. The mesh in r-space is automatically generated around embedded boundaries and dynamically adapted to local solution properties. The mesh in v-space is created on-the-fly for each cell in r-space. Mappings between neighboring v-space trees implemented for the advection operator in configuration space. We have developed new algorit…
We show feasibility and benefits of porting an adaptive multi-scale kinetic-fluid code to CPU-GPU systems. Challenges are due to the irregular data access for adaptive Cartesian mesh, vast difference of computational cost between kinetic and fluid cells, and desire to evenly load all CPUs and GPUs. Our Unified Flow Solver (UFS) combines Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) with automatic cell-by-cell selection of kinetic or fluid solvers based on continuum breakdown criteria. Using GPUs enables hybrid simulations of mixed rarefied-continuum flows with a million of Boltzmann cells with 24x24x24 veloc…
A novel hybrid computational method based on the discrete-velocity (DV) approximation, including the lattice-Boltzmann (LB) technique, is proposed. Numerical schemes for the kinetic equations are used in regions of rarefied flows, and LB schemes are employed in continuum flow zones. The schemes are written under the finite-volume (FV) formulation to achieve the flexibility of local mesh refinement. The truncated Hermite polynomial expansion is used for matching of DV and LB solutions. Special attention is paid to preserving conservation properties in the coupling algorithm. The test results ob…
The liquid-gas density ratio is a key property of multiphase flow methods to model real fluid systems. Here, a chemical-potential multiphase lattice Boltzmann method is constructed to realize extremely large density ratios. The simulations show that the method reaches very low temperatures, at which the liquid-gas density ratio is more than 10^14, while the thermodynamic consistency is still preserved. Decoupling the mesh space from the momentum space through a proportional coefficient, a smaller mesh step provides denser lattice nodes to exactly describe the transition region and the resultin…
In this paper we use a fluid-structure interaction (FSI) approach to simulate a Coriolis mass flowmeter (CMF). The fluid dynamics are calculated by the open source framework OpenLB, based on the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). For the structural dynamics we employ the open source software Elmer, an implementation of the finite element method (FEM). A staggered coupling approach between the two software packages is presented. The finite element mesh is created by the mesh generator Gmsh to ensure a complete open source workflow. The Eigenmodes of the CMF, which are calculated by modal analysis …
A sparse octree based parallel implementation of the lattice Boltzmann method for non-uniform meshes is presented in this paper. To couple grids of different resolutions, a second order accurate compact interpolation is employed and further extended into three dimensions. This compact interpolation requires only four source elements from the adjacent level for both two- and three dimensions. Thus, it reduces the computational and communication overhead in parallel executions. Moreover, the implementation of a weight based domain decomposition algorithm and level-wise elements arrangement are e…
We simulate the two-dimensional fluid flow around National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) 0012 airfoil using a hybrid lattice Boltzmann method (HLBM), which combines the standard lattice Boltzmann method with an unstructured finite-volume formulation. The aim of the study is to assess the numerical performances and the robustness of the computational method. To this purpose, after providing a convergence study to estimate the overall accuracy of the method, we analyze the numerical solution for different values of the angle of attack at a Reynolds number equal to $10^3$. Subsequentl…
The interpolated bounce-back scheme and the immersed boundary method are the two most popular algorithms in treating a no-slip boundary on curved surfaces in the lattice Boltzmann method. While those algorithms are frequently implemented in the numerical simulations involving complex geometries, such as particle-laden flows, their performances are seldom compared systematically over the same local quantities within the same context. In this paper, we present a systematic comparative investigation on some frequently used and most state-of-the-art interpolated bounce-back schemes and immersed bo…
In this paper, we develop a discrete unified gas kinetic scheme (DUGKS) for general nonlinear convection-diffusion equation (NCDE), and show that the NCDE can be recovered correctly from the present model through the Chapman-Enskog analysis. We then test the present DUGKS through some classic convection-diffusion equations, and find that the numerical results are in good agreement with analytical solutions and the DUGKS model has a second-order convergence rate. Finally, as a finite-volume method, DUGKS can also adopt the non-uniform mesh. Besides, we performed some comparisons among the DUGKS…
This paper presents a lattice Boltzmann model to simulate the aqueous humor (AH) dynamics in the human eyes by involving incompressible Navier-Stokes flow, heat convection and diffusion, and Darcy seepage flow. Verifying simulations indicate that the model is stable, convergent and robust. Further investigations were carried out, including the effects of heat convection and buoyancy, AH production rate, permeability of trabecular meshwork, viscosity of AH and anterior chamber angle on intraocular pressure (IOP). The heat convection and diffusion can significantly affect the flow patterns in th…
An implicit high-order discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method is developed to find steady-state solution of rarefied gas flow described by the Boltzmann equation with full collision operator. In the physical space, velocity distribution function is approximated by the piecewise polynomials of degree up to 4, while in the velocity space the fast spectral method is incorporated into the DG to evaluate the collision operator. A specific polynomial approximation for the collision operator is proposed to reduce the computational complexity of the fast spectral method by $K$ times, where for two-dimensi…
We present a novel method for fluid structure interaction (FSI) simulations where an original 2nd-order curved space lattice Boltzmann fluid solver (LBM) is coupled to a finite element method (FEM) for thin shells. The LBM can work independently on a standard lattice in curved coordinates without the need for interpolation, re-meshing or an immersed boundary. The LBM distribution functions are transformed dynamically under coordinate change. In addition, force and momentum can be calculated on the nodes exactly in any geometry. Furthermore, the FEM shell is a complete numerical tool with imple…
The article describes parallel multiphysics simulations of charged particles in microfluidic flows with the waLBerla framework. To this end, three physical effects are coupled: rigid body dynamics, fluid flow modelled by a lattice Boltzmann algorithm, and electric potentials represented by a finite volume discretisation. For solving the finite volume discretisation for the electrostatic forces, a cell-centered multigrid algorithm is developed that conforms to the lattice Boltzmann meshes and the parallel communication structure of waLBerla. The new functionality is validated with suitable benc…
