A numerical method for incompressible non-Newtonian fluid flows based on the lattice Boltzmann method

A new numerical method for incompressible non-Newtonian fluid flows based on the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is proposed. The essence of the present method lies in the determination of shear-dependent viscosity of the fluid by using a variable parameter related to the local shear rate. Also, the relaxation time in the BGK collision term is kept at unity taking account of numerical stability. The method is applied to two representative test case problems, power-law fluid flows in a reentrant corner geometry and non-Newtonian fluid flows in a three-dimensional porous structure. These simulations indicate that the method can be useful for practical non-Newtonian fluid flows, such as shear-thickening (dilatant) and shear-thinning (pseudoplastic) fluid flows.