Transport coefficients of the Lennard-Jones model fluid. I. Viscosity

Slip coefficient in nanoscale pore flow

The hydrodynamic solutions based on Maxwell's boundary conditions include an empirical slip coefficient (SC), which depends on properties of the adsorbate and adsorbent. Existing kinetic theory derivations of the SC are usually formulated for half-space flow and do not include finite-size effects, which dominate the flow in nanopores. We present an expression for the SC applicable to flow in nanoscale pores, which has been verified by nonequilibrium molecular-dynamics simulation. Our results show that the slip coefficient depends strongly on the pore width for small pores tending to a constant value for pores of width >20 molecular diameters for our systems, in contrast to the linear scaling predicted by Maxwell's theory of slip.

Cutoff radius effect of isotropic periodic sum method for transport coefficients of Lennard-Jones liquid

Molecular dynamics simulations of a Lennard-Jones (LJ) liquid were applied to compare the isotropic periodic sum (IPS) method [X. Wu and B. R. Brooks, J. Chem. Phys. 122, 044107 (2005)], which can reduce the calculation cost of long-range interactions, such as the Lennard-Jones and Coulombic ones, with the cutoff method for the transport coefficients which includes the self-diffusion coefficient, bulk viscosity, and thermal conductivity. The self-diffusion coefficient, bulk viscosity, and thermal conductivity were estimated with reasonable accuracy if the cutoff distance of the LJ potential for the IPS method was greater than 3sigma. The IPS method is an effective technique for estimating the transport coefficients of the Lennard-Jones liquid in a homogeneous system.

System size and control parameter effects in reverse perturbation nonequilibrium molecular dynamics

The issue of system size effects in the reverse perturbation nonequilibrium molecular dynamics method for determining transport coefficients of fluids is examined for the case of the Lennard-Jones model. It is found that when adequate precautions are observed in obtaining linear temperature or momentum profiles, a 250 atom system is adequate for determining the thermal conductivity and the shear viscosity. Also, a means of determining the uncertainties in the transport coefficients is described. The conclusion is that this method is computationally competitive with other simulation methods for estimating transport coefficients.

System dynamics revealed by recurrence quantification analysis: application to molecular dynamics simulations

The present work examines the applicability and efficacy of recurrence plots and recurrence quantification analysis in interpreting statistical-mechanics-based simulations of classical fluids and solids. We analyze temperature time series obtained from molecular dynamics simulations of a Lennard-Jones system at various fluid and solid states. It turns out that the structure of the recurrence plots reflects the different regimes of atomic motion as well as the degree of atomic diffusivity as the system density and temperature are varied. Recurrence plots (RPs) can help to localize a region where a phase transition occurs, while recurrence quantitative analysis descriptors confirm in a more clear way the results of RPs. The trends identified in our results are in qualitative agreement with direct computation of Lyapunov exponents for liquid Lennard-Jones systems reported in the literature.

Systematic investigation of theories of transport in the Lennard-Jones fluid

Three kinetic theories of transport are investigated for the single-species Lennard-Jones model fluid. Transport coefficients, including diffusion, shear, and bulk viscosity, are calculated from these theories for the Lennard-Jones fluid across the fluid regions of the phase diagram. The results are systematically compared against simulation. It is found that for each transport property considered, there is at least one theoretical result based on approximations that have been systematically derived from a first-principles starting point that is quantitatively useful over a wide range of densities and temperatures. To the authors' knowledge, this article constitutes the first such compendium of results for the Lennard-Jones model fluid that has been assembled.

Transport and Helfand moments in the Lennard-Jones fluid. I. Shear viscosity

The authors propose a new method, the Helfand-moment method, to compute the shear viscosity by equilibrium molecular dynamics in periodic systems. In this method, the shear viscosity is written as an Einstein-type relation in terms of the variance of the so-called Helfand moment. This quantity is modified in order to satisfy systems with periodic boundary conditions usually considered in molecular dynamics. They calculate the shear viscosity in the Lennard-Jones fluid near the triple point thanks to this new technique. They show that the results of the Helfand-moment method are in excellent agreement with the results of the standard Green-Kubo method.

Tethered polyelectrolytes under the action of an electrical field: a molecular-dynamics study

For a polyelectrolyte undergoing electrophoretic motion, it is predicted (D. Long, J.L. Viovy, A. Ajdari, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 3858 (1996); D. Long, A. Ajdari, Electrophoresis 17, 1161 (1996)) that the mechanical force necessary to stall the molecule is substantially smaller than the sum of electrical forces applied on all monomers. In fact, it should be proportional to its hydrodynamic friction coefficient and therefore to the size of its conformation. In our work we examine this prediction using coarse-grained molecular-dynamics simulations in which we explicitly include the polymer, the solvent, the counterions and salt. The electrophoretic mobility of polyelectrolytes is evaluated, the mechanical force necessary to keep the molecules tethered is measured and the resulting anisotropic polymer conformations are observed and quantified. Our results corroborate Long et al.'s prediction.

Coupling lattice Boltzmann and molecular dynamics models for dense fluids

We propose a hybrid model, coupling lattice Boltzmann (LB) and molecular dynamics (MD) models, for the simulation of dense fluids. Time and length scales are decoupled by using an iterative Schwarz domain decomposition algorithm. The MD and LB formulations communicate via the exchange of velocities and velocity gradients at the interface. We validate the present LB-MD model in simulations of two- and three-dimensional flows of liquid argon past and through a carbon nanotube. Comparisons with existing hybrid algorithms and with reference MD solutions demonstrate the validity of the present approach.

Spectra of the liquid cluster surface thermal fluctuations

Classification of cluster particles is proposed that introduces three particle types: the internal particles, surface particles, and virtual chains of particles. Thermal fluctuations of a surface passing through the surface particles of a Lennard-Jones liquid cluster are studied using a molecular dynamics simulation. It is shown that for large clusters, the Fourier spectral amplitude of these fluctuations decays faster than 1q, where q is the wave number. The frequency Fourier spectrum shows an overdamped system behavior, which is the evidence for the absence of thermal capillary waves for clusters comprising less than 10(5) particles. The time-averaged cluster density profile is given by an error function with the width parameter diverging as the logarithm of the cluster size.

Transport Properties of the Ionic Liquid 1-Ethyl-3-Methylimidazolium Chloride from Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics Simulation. The Effect of Temperature

We present here equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation results for self-diffusion coefficients, shear viscosity, and electrical conductivity in a model ionic liquid (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride) at different temperatures. The Green-Kubo relations were employed to evaluate the transport coefficients. When compared with available experimental data, the model underestimates the conductivity and self-diffusion, whereas the viscosity is overpredicted, showing only a semiquantitative agreement with experimental data. These discrepancies are explained on the basis of the rigidity and lack of polarizability of the model. Despite this, the experimental trends with temperature are remarkably well reproduced, with a good agreement on the activation energies when available. No significant deviations from the Nernst-Einstein relation can be assessed on the basis of the statistical uncertainty of the simulations, although the comparison between the electric current and the velocity autocorrelation functions suggests some degree of cross-correlation among ions in a short time scale. The simulations reproduce remarkably well the slope of the Walden plots obtained from experimental data of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, confirming that temperature does not alter appreciably the extent of ion pairing.

Molecular dynamics comparative study of Lennard-Jones -6 and exponential -6 potentials: application to real simple fluids (viscosity and pressure)

In this work, using molecular dynamics simulation, the viscosity (dynamic property) and the pressure (static property) of spherical fluid particles interacting through Lennard-Jones -6 and exponential -6 potentials are computed. Simulations are performed for going from 10 to 20 for the Lennard-Jones potential and from 12 to 22 for the exponential one. Six different thermodynamic states are tested that cover a large range of conditions, from sub- to supercritical temperature and from low to high density. To compare in a consistent manner the results for the various potentials tested, the simulations are carried out for the same set of reduced thermodynamic conditions (using the critical point). It is found that a perfect corresponding-states formulation is not possible between these potentials. Then, these potentials are applied on real simple fluids (argon, oxygen, nitrogen, methane, ethane, and one mixture, air) and the calculated viscosity and pressure values are compared with reference values. It appears that, using the appropriate , both potential families lead to a good accuracy in pressure and viscosity using the same set of molecular parameters for both properties, the average absolute deviations being always lower than 5% for the studied states. In addition, it is shown that the exponential potential results do not outperform the Lennard-Jones ones. Furthermore, for all compounds except for methane, the best results are obtained for the Lennard-Jones 12-6 and the exponential 14-6 potentials. This result partly explains why, despite no theoretical background, the Lennard-Jones 12-6 potential is so widely used. Finally, it is shown that a van der Waals one-fluid model performs extremely well for the studied mixture (air).

Theoretical scheme for the shear viscosity of Lennard-Jones fluids

We use the shear viscosity expression from the Enskog theory of dense gases in a perturbative scheme for the Lennard-Jones (LJ) fluid. This perturbative scheme is formulated by combining the analytic rational function approximation method of Bravo Yuste and Santos [Phys. Rev. A 43, 5418 (1991)] for the radial distribution function of hard-sphere fluids and the well known Mansoori-Canfield/Rasaiah-Stell perturbation theory to determine an effective diameter for the LJ fluid. The scheme is reliable on a wide range of temperatures and densities, and is very accurate around the critical point. Using this information, we build an accurate empirical formula for the shear viscosity in the liquid phase, which fits the recent data [K. Meier et al., J. Chem. Phys. 121, 3671 (2004)] in the whole simulation range.

Molecular theory of thermal conductivity of the Lennard-Jones fluid

In this paper the thermal conductivity of the Lennard-Jones fluid is calculated by applying the combination of the density-fluctuation theory, the modified free volume theory of diffusion, and the generic van der Waals equation of state. A Monte Carlo simulation method is used to compute the equilibrium pair-correlation function necessary for computing the mean free volume and the coefficient in the potential-energy and virial contributions to the thermal conductivity. The theoretical results are compared with our own molecular dynamics simulation results and with those reported in the literature. They agree in good accuracy over wide ranges of density and temperature examined in molecular dynamics simulations. Thus the combined theory represents a molecular theory of thermal conductivity of the Lennard-Jones fluid and by extension simple fluids, which enables us to compute the nonequilibrium quantity by means of the Monte Carlo simulations for the equilibrium pair-correlation function.

Solvation forces between colloidal nanoparticles: directed alignment

We study the solvation forces between colloidal nanoparticles in Lennard-Jones liquids using molecular-dynamics simulations. We find that due to the interplay between solvent ordering and surface structure, the solvation forces between two nanoparticles can vary between attraction and repulsion as the particles are rotated relative to one another at a fixed separation. These solvent-mediated forces tend to align the nanoparticles so that they rotate to approach one another in a solution via preferred pathways. This directed alignment could play a role in the assembly of macromolecules and nanoparticles in solution.

Statistical-mechanical theory of rheology: Lennard-Jones fluids

The generalized Boltzmann equation for simple dense fluids gives rise to the stress tensor evolution equation as a constitutive equation of generalized hydrodynamics for fluids far removed from equilibrium. It is possible to derive a formula for the non-Newtonian shear viscosity of the simple fluid from the stress tensor evolution equation in a suitable flow configuration. The non-Newtonian viscosity formula derived is applied to calculate the non-Newtonian viscosity as a function of the shear rate by means of statistical mechanics in the case of the Lennard-Jones fluid. For that purpose we have used the density-fluctuation theory for the Newtonian viscosity, the modified free volume theory for the self-diffusion coefficient, and the generic van der Waals equation of state to compute the mean free volume appearing in the modified free volume theory. Monte Carlo simulations are used to calculate the pair-correlation function appearing in the generic van der Waals equation of state and shear viscosity formula. To validate the Newtonian viscosity formula obtained we first have examined the density and temperature dependences of the shear viscosity in both subcritical and supercritical regions and compared them with molecular-dynamic simulation results. With the Newtonian shear viscosity and thermodynamic quantities so computed we then have calculated the shear rate dependence of the non-Newtonian shear viscosity and compared it with molecular-dynamics simulation results. The non-Newtonian viscosity formula is a universal function of the product of reduced shear rate (gamma*) times reduced relaxation time (taue*) that is independent of the material parameters, suggesting a possibility of the existence of rheological corresponding states of reduced density, temperature, and shear rate. When the simulation data are reduced appropriately and plotted against taue*gamma* they are found clustered around the reduced (universal) non-Newtonian viscosity formula. Thus we now have a molecular theory of non-Newtonian shear viscosity for the Lennard-Jones fluid, which can be implemented with a Monte Carlo simulation method for the pair-correlation function.

A comparative study between dissipative particle dynamics and molecular dynamics for simple- and complex-geometry flows

The purpose of this study is to compare the results from molecular-dynamics and dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations of Lennard-Jones (LJ) fluid and determine the quantitative effects of DPD coarse graining on flow parameters. We illustrate how to select the conservative force coefficient, the cut-off radius, and the DPD time scale in order to simulate a LJ fluid. To show the effects of coarse graining and establish accuracy in the DPD simulations, we conduct equilibrium simulations, Couette flow simulations, Poiseuille flow simulations, and simulations of flow around a periodic array of square cylinders. For the last flow problem, additional comparisons are performed against continuum simulations based on the spectral/hp element method.

Validation of intermolecular pair potential model of SiH4: molecular-dynamics simulation for saturated liquid density and thermal transport properties

We demonstrate a validation of the intermolecular pair potential model of SiH(4), which is constructed from ab initio molecular-orbital calculations and expressed as the sum of the exponential and the London dispersion terms. The saturated liquid densities of SiH(4) are calculated for temperatures from 100 to 225 K by molecular-dynamics (MD) simulation. The average deviation between the experiment and the MD simulation using the present potential model is 3.9%, while the deviations exceed 10% for other well-known potential models such as the five-center Lennard-Jones (LJ) model. Subsequently, the shear viscosity, the thermal conductivity, and the self-diffusion coefficient of liquid SiH(4) are calculated by an equilibrium MD simulation with the Green-Kubo formula from 100 to 225 K. The average deviations from experiment are 11.8% and 13.7% for the shear viscosity and the thermal conductivity, respectively. Comparing the present model with an empirical one-center LJ model, it turns out that the rotational energy transfer through the intermolecular potential energy, which comes from the anisotropic potential energy, plays an important role in the thermal conductivity of liquid SiH(4). These results indicate that the present intermolecular potential model has an ability to give realistic pictures for liquid SiH(4) through molecular simulations.

Poiseuille flow to measure the viscosity of particle model fluids

The most important property of a fluid is its viscosity, it determines the flow properties. If one simulates a fluid using a particle model, calculating the viscosity accurately is difficult because it is a collective property. In this article we describe a new method that has a better signal to noise ratio than existing methods. It is based on using periodic boundary conditions to simulate counter-flowing Poiseuille flows without the use of explicit boundaries. The viscosity is then related to the mean flow velocity of the two flows. We apply the method to two quite different systems. First, a simple generic fluid model, dissipative particle dynamics, for which accurate values of the viscosity are needed to characterize the model fluid. Second, the more realistic Lennard-Jones fluid. In both cases the values we calculated are consistent with previous work but, for a given simulation time, they are more accurate than those obtained with other methods.

Investigation of the density dependence of the shear relaxation time of dense fluids

The shear relaxation time, a key quantity in the theory of viscosity, is calculated for the Lennard–Jones fluid and fluid krypton. The shear relaxation time is initially calculated by the Zwanzig–Mountain method, which defines this quantity as the ratio of the shear viscosity coefficient to the infinite shear modulus. The shear modulus is calculated from highly accurate radial distribution functions obtained from molecular dynamics simulations of the Lennard–Jones potential and a realistic potential for krypton. This calculation shows that the density dependence of the shear relaxation time isotherms of the Lennard–Jones fluid and Kr pass through a minimum. The minimum in the shear relaxation times is also obtained from calculations using the different approach originally proposed by van der Gulik. In this approach, the relaxation time is determined as the ratio of shear viscosity coefficient to the thermal pressure. The density of the minimum of the shear relaxation time is about twice the critical density and is equal to the common density, which was previously reported for supercritical gases where the viscosity of the gas becomes independent of temperature. It is shown that this common point occurs in both gas and liquid phases. At densities lower than this common density, even in the liquid state, the viscosity increases with increasing temperature.Key words: dense fluids, radial distribution function, shear modulus, shear relaxation time, shear viscosity.

Transport coefficients of the Lennard-Jones model fluid. III. Bulk viscosity

In an extensive computer simulation study, the transport coefficients of the Lennard-Jones model fluid were determined with high accuracy from equilibrium molecular-dynamics simulations. In the frame of time-correlation function theory, the generalized Einstein relations were employed to evaluate the transport coefficients. This third of a series of four papers presents the results for the bulk viscosity. With comprehensive simulation data at over 350 state points, the temperature and density dependences of the bulk viscosity are characterized in this work over a wide range of fluid states. The bulk viscosity exhibits a large critical enhancement similar to that known for the thermal conductivity, but it extends much farther into the supercritical region and can be observed even at 4.5 times the critical temperature. An investigation of the pressure-fluctuation autocorrelation functions shows that the enhancement is caused by extremely slowly decaying pressure fluctuations.

Transport coefficients of the Lennard-Jones model fluid. II Self-diffusion

In an extensive computer simulation study, the transport coefficients of the Lennard-Jones model fluid were determined with high accuracy from equilibrium molecular-dynamics simulations. In the frame of time-correlation function theory, the generalized Einstein relations were employed to evaluate the transport coefficients. This second of a series of four papers presents the results for the self-diffusion coefficient, and discusses and interprets the behavior of this transport coefficient in the fluid region of the phase diagram. The uncertainty of the self-diffusion data is estimated to be 1% in the gas region and 0.5% at high-density liquid states. With the very accurate data, even fine details in the shape of the self-diffusion isotherms are resolved, and the previously little-investigated behavior of the self-diffusion coefficient at low-density gaseous states is analyzed in detail. Finally, aspects of the mass transport mechanisms on the molecular scale are explored by an analysis of the velocity autocorrelation functions.