An immersed boundary-thermal lattice Boltzmann method using an equilibrium internal energy density approach for the simulation of flows with heat transfer

In present paper, a novel immersed boundary-thermal lattice Boltzmann method by the name of “an equilibrium internal energy density approach” is proposed to simulate the flows around bluff bodies with the heat transfer. The main idea is to combine the immersed boundary method (IBM) with the thermal lattice Boltzmann method (TLBM) based on the double population approach. The equilibrium internal energy density approach based on the equilibrium velocity approach [X. Shan, H. Chen, Lattice Boltzmann model for simulating flows with multiple phases and components, Phys. Rev. E 47 (1993) 1815] is used to combine IBM with TLBM. The idea of the equilibrium internal energy density approach is that the satisfaction of the energy balance between heat source on the immersed boundary point and the amount of change of the internal energy density according to time ensures the temperature boundary condition on the immersed boundary. The advantages of this approach are the simple concept, easy implementation and the utilization of original governing equation without modification. The simulation of natural convection in a square cavity with various body shapes for different Rayleigh numbers has been conducted to validate the capability and the accuracy of present method on solving heat transfer problems. Consequently, the present results are found to be in good agreement with those of previous studies.