Progress in Lattice Boltzmann Modeling of Seepage and Freeze-Thaw Processes in Porous Media

Abstract

Water infiltration and freeze-thaw processes in soils involve pore-scale flow, phase change, and heat transfer. These processes are difficult to describe using conventional continuum methods. Such methods rely on averaged properties and cannot resolve pore-scale interfaces, connectivity changes, or moving phase boundaries. The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) provides a mesoscopic approach for this type of problem. It represents pore geometry and multiphase interfaces directly on discrete lattices. This feature makes it suitable for simulating saturated and unsaturated seepage, heat transfer under freezing conditions, and freeze-thaw cycles. This paper reviews recent studies on LBM applications in these areas. Different model frameworks and numerical strategies are compared. The results show that LBM can capture pore-scale mechanisms that are not accessible to continuum models. However, several limitations remain. These include high computational cost, unclear physical meaning of some model parameters, and limited experimental validation.

Keywords

Lattice Boltzmann method / Pore scale / Seepage / Freeze-thaw / Multiscale modeling

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