Simulation of electro-osmotic flow in microchannel with lattice Boltzmann method

In this Letter, an incompressible lattice Boltzmann model without compressible effect for simulating flow field and a new lattice Boltzmann model for correctly solving the Poisson-Boltzmann equation are introduced. The proposed models can be used to eliminate some unexpected errors in lattice Boltzmann method that has been applied to simulate electro-osmotic flow in microchannel. Transient behavior of electro-osmotic transport and effects due to the variations of the ionic concentration, channel height, external electric field and zeta (zeta) potential on the velocity profile were investigated with present models. Detailed numerical results are in good agreement with the corresponding analytical solutions or numerical results in existing literature. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.