Lattice Boltzmann modeling of phonon transport

A novel lattice Boltzmann scheme is proposed for phonon transport based on the phonon Boltzmann equation. Through the Chapman-Enskog expansion, the phonon lattice Boltzmann equation under the gray relaxation time approximation recovers the classical Fourier's law in the diffusive limit. The numerical parameters in the lattice Boltzmann model are therefore rigorously correlated to the bulk material properties. The new scheme does not only eliminate the fictitious phonon speed in the diagonal direction of a square lattice system in the previous lattice Boltzmann models, but also displays very robust performances in predicting both temperature and heat flux distributions consistent with analytical solutions for diverse numerical cases, including steady-state and transient, macroscale and microscale, one-dimensional and multi-dimensional phonon heat transport. This method may provide a powerful numerical tool for deep studies of nonlinear and nonlocal heat transports in nanosystems.