Fluctuating lattice Boltzmann

Abstract

The lattice Boltzmann algorithm efficiently simulates the Navier Stokes equation of isothermal fluid flow, but ignores thermal fluctuations of the fluid, important in mesoscopic flows. We show how to adapt the algorithm to include noise, satisfying a fluctuation-dissipation theorem (FDT) directly at lattice level: this gives correct fluctuations for mass and momentum densities, and for stresses, at all wavevectors $k$. Unlike previous work, which recovers FDT only as $k\to 0$, our algorithm offers full statistical mechanical consistency in mesoscale simulations of, e.g., fluctuating colloidal hydrodynamics.