I apologize if some of my questions are naive; I am very new to computer simulations and fluid-dynamics.I am going to start a PhD in early 2017, and I would like to bone-up on some Computational Fluid Dynamics to prepare. The PhD (and my background) is mostly physics-based analogous gravity, but there is a very hefty fluid-dynamics component to the course. Ideally, there will be theoretical components, simulations, and experiments. I have looked into the most widely used solvers, and I stumbled onto a cfd-online wike, with a list of three different software suites: OpenFOAM, SU2, and Palabos. Since fluid dynamics will only be a portion of my PhD, and simulations a portion of a portion, I'm hoping to choose one pony and stick to it. The problems will be primarily dealing with will be stationary and non-stationary liquid flows in ridged-walled channels (including open-channel flows with obstacles such as airfoils, and bathtub vortex problems). I am not sure whether or not the no-slip condition will be important, but measurements of vorticity and surface waves will be. I am hoping that somebody could tell me which method would be the most efficient. I have read in another stackexchange post that the Lattice Boltzmann Equation (LBE) method can be easily parallel-ized. I have also read on reasearchgate that LBE can be more efficient than Navier-Stokes (NS) methods, but one often requires a finer-mesh. I am also interested in which method (meaning, which of the above programs in bold) would be the easiest in which to utilize GP-GPU, and parallel GPU systems. 
New to CFD, Lattice Boltzmann or Navier-Stokes?
fluid dynamics;navier stokes;gpu;lattice boltzmann methods