LB3D: A parallel implementation of the Lattice-Boltzmann method for mesoscale simulation of interacting amphiphilic fluids

Abstract

We introduce the lattice-Boltzmann code LB3D, version 7.1. Building on a parallel program and supporting tools which have enabled research utilising high performance computing resources for more than 16 years, LB3D version 7 provides a subset of the research code functionality as an open source project. Here, we describe the theoretical basis of the algorithm as well as computational aspects of the implementation. The software package is validated against simulations of meso-phases resulting from self-assembly in ternary fluid mixtures comprising immiscible and amphiphilic components such as water-oil-surfactant systems. The impact of the surfactant species on the dynamics of spinodal decomposition are tested and quantitative measurement of the permeability of a body centred cubic (BCC) model porous medium for a simple binary mixure is reported. Single-core performance and scaling behaviour of the code are reported for simulations on current supercomputer architectures