  A thorough study of shear stress within the lattice Boltzmann method is
provided. Via standard multiscale Chapman-Enskog expansion we investigate the
dependence of the error in shear stress on grid resolution showing that the
shear stress obtained by the lattice Boltzmann method is second order accurate.
This convergence, however, is usually spoiled by the boundary conditions. It is
also investigated which value of the relaxation parameter minimizes the error.
Furthermore, for simulations using velocity boundary conditions, an artificial
mass increase is often observed. This is a consequence of the compressibility
of the lattice Boltzmann fluid. We investigate this issue and derive an
analytic expression for the time-dependence of the fluid density in terms of
the Reynolds number, Mach number and a geometric factor for the case of a
Poiseuille flow through a rectangular channel in three dimensions. Comparison
of the analytic expression with results of lattice Boltzmann simulations shows
excellent agreement.
