Homogenized lattice Boltzmann methods for fluid flow through porous media -- part I: kinetic model derivation

In this series of works we establish homogenized lattice Boltzmann methods (HLBM) for the simulation of fluid flow through porous media. Our contributions in part I are twofold. First, we assemble the targeted partial differential equation system by formally unifying the governing equations for nonstationary fluid flow in porous media. To this end, a matrix of regularly arranged obstacles of equal size is placed into the domain to model fluid flow through structures of different porosities that is governed by the incompressible nonstationary Navier--Stokes equations. Depending on the ratio of geometric parameters in the matrix arrangement, several cases of homogenized equations are obtained. We review the existing methods to homogenize the nonstationary Navier--Stokes equations for specific porosities and interpret connections between the resulting model equations from the perspective of applicability. Consequently, the homogenized Navier--Stokes equations are formulated as targeted partial differential equations which jointly incorporate the derived aspects. Second, we propose a kinetic model, named homogenized Bhatnagar--Gross--Krook Boltzmann equation, which approximates the homogenized nonstationary Navier--Stokes equations. We formally prove that the zeroth and first order moments of the kinetic model provide solutions to the mass and momentum balance variables of the macrocopic model up to specific orders in the scaling parameter. Based on the present contributions, in the sequel (part II) the homogenized Navier--Stokes equations are consistently approximated by deriving a limit consistent HLBM discretization of the homogenized Bhatnagar--Gross--Krook Boltzmann equation.