Adjoint lattice kinetic scheme for topology optimization in fluid problems

Abstract: This paper proposes a topology optimization method for non-thermal and thermal fluid problems using the Lattice Kinetic Scheme (LKS).LKS, which is derived from the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM), requires only macroscopic values, such as fluid velocity and pressure, whereas LBM requires velocity distribution functions, thereby reducing memory requirements. The proposed method computes design sensitivities based on the adjoint variable method, and the adjoint equation is solved in the same manner as LKS; thus, we refer to it as the Adjoint Lattice Kinetic Scheme (ALKS). A key contribution of this method is the proposed approximate treatment of boundary conditions for the adjoint equation, which is challenging to apply directly due to the characteristics of LKS boundary conditions. We demonstrate numerical examples for steady and unsteady problems involving non-thermal and thermal fluids, and the results are physically meaningful and consistent with previous research, exhibiting similar trends in parameter dependencies, such as the Reynolds number. Furthermore, the proposed method reduces memory usage by up to 75% compared to the conventional LBM in an unsteady thermal fluid problem.