A LBM-DEM solver for fast discrete particle simulation of particle-fluid flows

The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for simulating fluid phases was coupled with the discrete element method (DEM) for studying solid phases to formulate a novel solver for fast discrete particle simulation (DPS) of particle-fluid flows. The fluid hydrodynamics was obtained by solving LBM equations instead of solving the Navier-Stokes equation by the finite volume method (FVM). Interparticle and particle-wall collisions were determined by DEM. The new DPS solver was validated by simulating a three-dimensional gas-solid bubbling fluidized bed. The new solver was found to yield results faster than its FVM-DEM counterpart, with the increase in the domain-averaged gas volume fraction. Additionally, the scalability of the LBM-DEM DPS solver was superior to that of the FVM-DEM DPS solver in parallel computing. Thus, the LBM-DEM DPS solver is highly suitable for use in simulating dilute and large-scale particle-fluid flows.