Lattice Boltzmann methods for simulating fluid flow in complex geometries have developed rapidly in recent years. The LB method produces accurate flows and can accommodate a variety of boundary conditions associated with fluid-fluid and fluid-solid interactions. With the advent of large memory/parallel workstations (or PC clusters), computations on fairly large systems that were considered beyond the reach of even some "super" computers from a decade ago can now be considered routine. Further work is needed to model fluids with large viscosity and density mismatches, which is the subject of current research.
Fontainebleau sandstone images were prepared by John Dunsmuir of Exxon Research & Engineering Co. in collaboration with Brent Lindquist and Teng-Fong Wong (SUNYSB) at the National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Division of Materials Sciences and Division of Chemical Sciences under contract number DE-AC02-98CH10886.