Exp6-polar thermodynamics of dense supercritical water

Minimization of Gibbs Energy in High-Pressure Multiphase, Multicomponent Mixtures through Particle Swarm Optimization

We present a global optimization method to construct phase boundaries in multicomponent mixtures by minimizing the Gibbs energy. The minimization method is, in essence, an extension of the Maxwell construction procedure that is used in single-component systems. For a given temperature, pressure, and overall mixture composition, it reveals the mole fractions of the thermodynamically stable phases and the composition of these phases. Our approach is based on particle swarm optimization (PSO), which is a gradient-free, stochastic method. It is not reliant on good initial guesses for the phase fractions and compositions, which is an important requirement for the high-pressure applications considered in this study because data on phase boundaries at high pressures tend to be extremely limited. One practical use of this method is to create equation-of-state tables needed by continuum-scale, multiphysics codes that are ubiquitous in high-pressure science. Currently, there does not exist a method to generate such tables that rigorously account for changes in phase boundaries due to mixing. We have done extensive testing to demonstrate that PSO can reliably determine the Gibbs energy minimum and can capture nontrivial features like eutectic and peritectic temperatures to produce coherent phase diagrams. As part of our testing, we have developed a PSO-based Helmholtz-energy minimization procedure that we have used to cross-check the results of the Gibbs energy minimization. We conclude with a critique of our approach and provide suggestions for future work, including a PSO-based entropy-maximization method that would enable the aforementioned continuum codes to perform on-the-fly, phase-equilibria calculations of multicomponent mixtures.

Equation of state for a chemically dissociative, polyatomic system: Carbon dioxide

A notorious challenge in high-pressure science is to develop an equation of state (EOS) that explicitly treats chemical reactions. For instance, many materials tend to dissociate at high pressures and temperatures where the chemical bonds that hold them together break down. We present an EOS for carbon dioxide (CO₂) that allows for dissociation and captures the key material behavior in a wide range of pressure-temperature conditions. Carbon dioxide is an ideal prototype for the development of a wide-ranging EOS that allows for chemical-dissociation equilibria since it is one of the simplest polyatomic systems and because it is of great interest in planetary science and in the study of detonations. Here, we show that taking dissociation into account significantly improves the accuracy of the resulting EOS compared to other EOSs that either neglect chemistry completely or treat CO₂ dissociation in a more rudimentary way.

First-Principles Monte Carlo Simulations of Reaction Equilibria in Compressed Vapors

Predictive modeling of reaction equilibria presents one of the grand challenges in the field of molecular simulation. Difficulties in the study of such systems arise from the need (i) to accurately model both strong, short-ranged interactions leading to the formation of chemical bonds and weak interactions arising from the environment, and (ii) to sample the range of time scales involving frequent molecular collisions, slow diffusion, and infrequent reactive events. Here we present a novel reactive first-principles Monte Carlo (RxFPMC) approach that allows for investigation of reaction equilibria without the need to prespecify a set of chemical reactions and their ideal-gas equilibrium constants. We apply RxFPMC to investigate a nitrogen/oxygen mixture at T = 3000 K and p = 30 GPa, i.e., conditions that are present in atmospheric lightning strikes and explosions. The RxFPMC simulations show that the solvation environment leads to a significantly enhanced NO concentration that reaches a maximum when oxygen is present in slight excess. In addition, the RxFPMC simulations indicate the formation of NO2 and N2O in mole fractions approaching 1%, whereas N3 and O3 are not observed. The equilibrium distributions obtained from the RxFPMC simulations agree well with those from a thermochemical computer code parametrized to experimental data.

A simulation assessment of the thermodynamics of dense ion-dipole mixtures with polarization

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are employed to ascertain the relative importance of various electrostatic interaction contributions, including induction interactions, to the thermodynamics of dense, hot ion-dipole mixtures. In the absence of polarization, we find that an MD-constrained free energy term accounting for the ion-dipole interactions, combined with well tested ionic and dipolar contributions, yields a simple, fairly accurate free energy form that may be a better option for describing the thermodynamics of such mixtures than the mean spherical approximation (MSA). Polarization contributions induced by the presence of permanent dipoles and ions are found to be additive to a good approximation, simplifying the thermodynamic modeling. We suggest simple free energy corrections that account for these two effects, based in part on standard perturbative treatments and partly on comparisons with MD simulation. Even though the proposed approximations likely need further study, they provide a first quantitative assessment of polarization contributions at high densities and temperatures and may serve as a guide for future modeling efforts.

Ultrafast shock initiation of exothermic chemistry in hydrogen peroxide

We report observations of shock compressed, unreacted hydrogen peroxide at pressures up to the von Neumann pressure for a steady detonation wave, using ultrafast laser-driven shock wave methods. At higher laser drive energy we find evidence of exothermic chemical reactivity occurring in less than 100 ps after the arrival of the shock wave in the sample. The results are consistent with our MD simulations and analysis and suggest that reactivity in hydrogen peroxide is initiated on a sub-100 ps time scale under conditions found just subsequent to the lead shock in a steady detonation wave.

Experimental measurement of speeds of sound in dense supercritical carbon monoxide and development of a high-pressure, high-temperature equation of state

We report the adiabatic sound speeds for supercritical fluid carbon monoxide along two isotherms, from 0.17 to 2.13 GPa at 297 K and from 0.31 to 3.2 GPa at 600 K. The carbon monoxide was confined in a resistively heated diamond-anvil cell, and the sound speed measurements were conducted in situ using a recently reported variant of the photoacoustic light scattering effect. The measured sound speeds were then used to parametrize a single site dipolar exponential-6 intermolecular potential for carbon monoxide. PρT thermodynamic states, sound speeds, and shock Hugoniots were calculated using the newly parametrized intermolecular potential and compared to previously reported experimental results. Additionally, we generated an analytical equation of state for carbon monoxide by fitting to a grid of calculated PρT states over a range of 0.1-10 GPa and 150-2000 K. A 2% mean variation was found between computed high-pressure solid-phase densities and measured data-a surprising result for a spherical interaction potential. We further computed a rotationally dependent fluid to β-solid phase boundary; results signal the relative magnitude of short-range rotational disorder under conditions that span existing phase boundary measurements.

Polarization behavior of water in extreme aqueous environments: A molecular dynamics study based on the Gaussian charge polarizable water model

We study the polarization behavior of water under geologically relevant extreme aqueous environments along four equidistant supercritical isotherms, 773<or=T(K)<or=1373, and over a wide pressure range, 0<P(GPa)<or=30, by isobaric-isothermal molecular dynamics simulations of the Gaussian charge polarizable water model, to unravel and discuss the underlying link between two precisely defined orientational order parameters and the magnitude of the average induced dipole moment of water. The predicted behavior indicates an isothermal linear dependence (a) between the magnitude of the average induced dipole moment mu(ind) and the average system density rho, (b) between the magnitude of the average induced dipole mu(ind) and that of the total dipole mu(tot), resulting from (c), a compensating (inverse) dependence between the permanent-to-induced dipolar angle theta and the magnitude of the average induced dipole moment mu(ind). Moreover, we interpret this behavior in terms of the evolution of the state dependent tetrahedral order parameter q(T) and the corresponding bond-order parameter Q(6), supplemented by the microstructural analysis based on the three site-site radial distribution functions of water and the distance-ranked nearest-neighbor distributions. Finally, we show that while water exhibits a dramatic microstructural transformation from an open four-coordinated hydrogen-bonded network at normal conditions to a quasi-close-packed coordination, it still preserves a significant degree of hydrogen bonding.