Theory of the lattice Boltzmann method: From the Boltzmann equation to the lattice Boltzmann equation

In this paper, the lattice Boltzmann equation is directly derived from the Boltzmann equation. It is shown that the lattice Boltzmann equation is a special discretized form of the Boltzmann equation. Various approximations for the discretization of the Boltzmann equation in both time and phase space are discussed in detail. A general procedure to derive the lattice Boltzmann model from the continuous Boltzmann equation is demonstrated explicitly. The lattice Boltzmann models derived include the two-dimensional 6-bit, 7-bit, and 9-bit, and three-dimensional 27-bit models.