Equilbrium properties of a rare-gas fluid contained between two parallel fcc(100) planes of rigidly fixed rare-gas atoms were computed by means of the grand-canonical ensemble Monte Carlo method. The singlet distribution function ρ(1), and the pair-correlation function g(2) in planes parallel to the solid layers, indicate that the structure of the pore fluid depends strongly on the distance h between the solid layers. As the separation increases from less than two atomic diameters, successive layers of fluid appear. The transitions between one and two layers and three and four layers are especially abrupt and are accompanied by changes in the character of g(2) from dense fluid-like to solid-like. Long-range, in-plane order in the fluid layers diminishes with increasing h, but is still evident in the contact layer (i.e., that nearest the solid layer) at h=16.5 atomic diameters, the largest separation considered. The structure of the contact layer reflects the solid-layer structure and differs significantly from the adjacent inner fluid layers, whose g(2) resembles that of the corresponding bulk fluid. Decreasing the density of atoms in the solid layers blunts the peaks in ρ(1) and g(2), although even for the least dense layer considered the contact layers of fluid evince long-range, in-plane order. Replacing the discrete pairwise fluid–solid interactions with the mean field resulting from smearing the solid atoms over the plane of the solid layer destroys the ‘‘phase transitions’’ and the associated long-range, in-plane order.
A generalized theory of multiphase transport is presented which combines the concepts of scale, instrumentation, stochastics, and time series with the development of transport equations. By defining the filtering process as a convolution of a measure P with a field property ψ, we are able to exploit the Fourier transform to place plausible restrictions on an instrument in frequency space so as to make its measurement relevant to its physical environment. An ideal instrument is defined which filters out high‐frequency noise (corresponding to short distances) and yet does not alter the structure of low frequencies. Using ideal instruments we successively filter out lower frequency noise in a multiscale, multiphase environment. Formulas are developed to relate the autocorrelation of a field property on one scale of motion to that on any other scale while taking into account the types of instruments used in the measuring process. An equation relating the integral scale on one scale of motion to the integral scale on any other scale of motion is developed. Power spectra are developed which relate spectra on different scales to the measuring instrument used. By successively applying filtering theorems, a hierarchy of multiscale transport equations is developed. Filtered properties in the transport equations are mass averages. Different properties are allowed to be measured by different instruments and different instruments are allowed on different scales of motion and for different phases. The concept of a wide sense stationary, ergodic process is introduced to develop mass average autocorrelations and spectra over scales of motion as a function of measuring devices.
Self-diffusion coefficients D are computed for a model slit pore consisting of a rare-gas fluid confined between two parallel face-centered cubic (100) planes (walls) of rigidly fixed rare-gas atoms. By means of an optimally vectorized molecular-dynamics program for the CYBER 205, the dependence of D on the thermodynamic state (specified by the chemical potential μ, temperature T, and the pore width h) of the pore fluid has been explored. Diffusion is governed by Fick’s law, even in pores as narrow as 2 or 3 atomic diameters. The diffusion coefficient oscillates as a function of h with fixed μ and T, vanishing at critical values of h, where fluid–solid phase transitions occur. A shift of the pore walls relative to one another in directions parallel with the walls can radically alter the structure of the pore fluid and consequently the magnitude of D. Since the pore fluid forms distinct layers parallel to the walls, a local diffusion coefficient D(i)∥ associated with a given layer i can be defined. D(i)∥ is least for the contact layer, even for pores as wide as 30 atomic diameters (∼100 Å). Moreover, D(i)∥ increases with increasing distance of the fluid layer from the wall and, for pore widths between 16 and 30 atomic diameters, D(i)∥ is larger in the center of the pore than in the bulk fluid that is in equilibrium with the pore fluid. The opposite behavior is observed in corresponding smooth-wall pores, in which the discrete fluid–wall interactions have been averaged by smearing the wall atoms over the plane of the wall. The temperature dependence of D for fixed h is determined and the nature of melting of a pore solid is examined. It is found that the solid tends to melt first in the middle of the pore. All of the various results are related to the structural properties of the pore fluid, as manifested by the local density and pair correlation functions.
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