In order to write the dimensionless lattice Boltzmann equation, we start by reminding the basis of dimensional analysis for fluid flows by writing the dimensionless incompressible Navier--Stokes which are more common in the literature.
where we see that no dimensionless number is present anymore. This case represents creeping flows that move only very slowly and will not interest us in this series of tutorials.
## The dimensionless Boltzmann equation
## The non-dimensional Boltzmann equation
The quantity of interest in the Boltzmann equation is the density probability distribution function
$$
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@@ -74,17 +78,46 @@ which represents the probability of finding a particle at position $\bm{x}$ with
In this tutorial we will only be interested in the Boltzmann-BGK equation, which reads
where $\tau$ is the relaxation time of the fluid, and $f^{eq}$ the equilibrium distribution function which is typically the Maxwell-Boltzmann density distribution
function. Considering our fluid is made of particles of mass $m$, the Boltzmann distribution reads
where $\rho$, $\bm{u}$, $T$ are respectively the density, velocity and temperature of the fluid, $k_B$ the Boltzmann constant, and $D$ the dimension of the velocity.
The dimensionless density distribution function is then given by
The dimensions of the density distribution function are therefore
$$
\left[M \cdot L^{-2D}\cdot T^D\right]
$$
By defining the characteristic velocity of our particles by $\xi_0$ (due to thermal agitation)