Journal of Statistical Physics, Vol. 121, Nos. 1/2, October 2005. p. 49-74.
DOI: 10.1007/s10955-005-8412-0
A method of coupling grids of different mesh size is developed for classical Lattice-Boltzmann (LB) algorithms on uniform grids. The approach is based on an asymptotic analysis revealing suitable quantities equalized along the grid interfaces for exchanging information between the subgrids. In contrast to other couplings the method works without overlap zones. Moreover the grid velocity (Mach number) is not kept constant, as the time step depends not linearly but quadratically on the grid spacing. To illustrate the basic idea we use a simple LB algorithm solving the advection-diffusion equation. The proposed grid coupling is validated by numerical convergence studies indicating, that the coupling does not affect the second-order convergence behavior of the LB algorithm which is observed on uniform grids. In order to demonstrate its principal applicability to other LB models, the coupling is generalized to the standard D2P9 model for (Navier-)Stokes flow and tested numerically. As we use analytic tools different from the Chapman-Enskog expansion, the theoretical background material is given in two appendices. In particular, the results of numerical experiments are confirmed with a consistency analysis.