Lattice Boltzmann algorithm for continuum multicomponent flow

We present a multicomponent lattice Boltzmann simulation for continuum fluid mechanics, paying particular attention to the component segregation part of the underlying algorithm. In the principal result of this paper, the dynamics of a component index, or phase field, is obtained for a segregation method after U. D'Ortona [Phys. Rev. E 51, 3718 (1995)], due to Latva-Kokko and Rothman [Phys. Rev. E 71 056702 (2005)]. The said dynamics accord with a simulation designed to address multicomponent flow in the continuum approximation and underwrite improved simulation performance in two main ways: (i) by reducing the interfacial microcurrent activity considerably and (ii) by facilitating simulational access to regimes of flow with a low capillary number and drop Reynolds number [I. Halliday, R. Law, C. M. Care, and A. Hollis, Phys. Rev. E 73, 056708 (2006)]. The component segregation method studied, used in conjunction with Lishchuk's method [S. V. Lishchuk, C. M. Care, and I. Halliday, Phys. Rev. E 67, 036701 (2003)], produces an interface, which is distributed in terms of its component index; however, the hydrodynamic boundary conditions which emerge are shown to support the notion of a sharp, unstructured, continuum interface.