Comparison of Cpu and Gpu Implementations of the Lattice Boltzmann Method

The lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) has become a standard tool for estimating porous medium permeabilities from image data and numerically generated packings. We consider implementations of the single-relaxation time BGK scheme for single phase flow as well as a more computationally intensive multi-relaxation time (MRT) scheme. Results demonstrate that a considerable performance increase is achieved by implementing on graphics processing unit (GPU) for both methods. The MRT scheme is shown to provide a more efficient means for permeability estimation on GPU relative to the BGK approach. The increased accuracy of the MRT scheme allows accurate permeability measurements to be obtained at lower resolutions, more than offsetting the increased computational cost associated with MRT.