elbe is based on a Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) on equidistant Cartesian grids. The numerical approximation is second-order accurate in space and time. Turbulent effects are modelled with a scale-resolving Smagorinsky LES approach. Two-phase flows are addressed by interface-capturing methods based upon the Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) technique and a sharp interface representation without interface diffusion. Various LBM collision operators and appropriate boundary conditions for different flow physics have been implemented, i.e. for single-phase bulk flows, flows with a free surface and shallow water flows. The code utilizes the computing power of graphics processing units (GPUS). For the implementation and parallelization, the NVIDIA CUDA toolkit is used. The numerical simulations are then run on one of our GPU compute servers with NVIDIA Tesla GPUs or on local workstations that are equipped with NVIDIA GTX gaming GPUs. For interactive live demos in the classroom or at exhibitions and fairs, a highly portable Mini-ITX machine with a single NVIDIA Titan X is used.

In 2016, the ELBE team received the “Hamburger KOMPASS 2016” award for the innovative and groundbreaking research. The price was awarded on April 7th 2016 during the Hamburger Hafenempfang.