Numerical calculation of the equation of flow in porous media: The lattice gas approach (Q1209853)

A lattice gas is a model of a gas where the particles move on a discrete spatial lattice, in discrete time steps, and with velocities ranging in a finite set. The dynamics of the system is determined by prescribing the rules according to which particles move from one lattice point to the next. For a particular choice of such rules, it is argued -- by means of a formal perturbation expansion -- that the lattice gas density, defined as the sum of the one-particle distribution functions, approximately satisfies a partial differential equation which describes the one-phase flow in porous media. A numerical scheme for solving the latter equation is based on this observation, and a numerical example is given. The connection between the lattice gas model and the porous flow equation is not investigated rigorously, neither is the question of convergence of the proposed numerical scheme.