Combination of Detailed CFD Simulations Using the Lattice Boltzmann Method and Experimental Measurements Using the NMR/MRI Technique

In the last decades, tremendous progress has been made in the area of numerical methods and computer technology but also new experimental techniques evolved and have been transferred to new application areas. This article describes the combination of two recent and innovative techniques. On the numerical side, the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is used for detailed simulations of the flow in complicated 3-D structures. On the experimental side, the principles of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are exploited to scan the 3-D structure of arbitrary objects (e.g. random packings of spheres) with a resolution of about 0.1 mm or better (magnetic resonance imaging, MRI) and to obtain information about the velocity of the fluid in selected planes of the same object. The combination of both methods allows for the first time with justifiable effort to investigate in 3-D and on a local level exactly the same arbitrarily complicated structures experimentally and numerically. This can be utilized first to validate the methods and results mutually, second to detect artifacts, but also third to replace or complement experimental investigations by “numerical experiments” on high performance computers which can provide a larger amount of detailed 3-D information with less effort.