Comparative study of the lattice Boltzmann models for Allen-Cahn and Cahn-Hilliard equations

In this paper, a comparative study of the lattice Boltzmann (LB) models for the Allen-Cahn (A-C) and Cahn-Hilliard (C-H) equations is conducted. To this end, a new LB model for the A-C equation is first proposed, where the equilibrium distribution function and the source term distribution function are delicately designed to recover the A-C equation correctly. The gradient term in this model can be computed by the nonequilibrium part of the distribution function such that the collision process can be implemented locally. Then a detailed numerical study on several classical problems is performed to give a comparison between the present model for the A-C equation and the recently developed LB model H. Liang et al., Phys. Rev. E 89, 053320 (2014)PLEEE81539-375510.1103/PhysRevE.89.053320 for the C-H equation in terms of tracking the interface of two-phase flow. The results show that the present LB model for the A-C equation is more accurate and more stable, and also has a second-order convergence rate in space, while the convergence rate of the previous LB model for the C-H equation is only about 1.5.