Lattice Boltzmann simulations of decaying homogeneous isotropic turbulence

Abstract

Decaying homogeneous isotropic turbulence in inertial and rotating reference frames is investigated to evaluate the capability of the lattice Boltzmann method in turbulence. In the inertial frame case, the decay exponents of kinetic energy and dissipation and the low wave-number scaling of the spectrum are studied. The results are in agreement with classical ones. In the frame-rotation case, simulations show that the energy decay rate decreases with decreasing Rossby number as the energy cascade is inhibited by rotation, again in agreement with turbulence physics. These results clearly indicate that the lattice Boltzmann method captures important features of decaying turbulence.