Dependence of thermodynamic properties of model systems on some dissipative particle dynamics parameters

Abstract

The influence of systematic perturbation of input interaction parameters on thermodynamic equilibrium properties is studied employing dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations. The values of both the excess pressure and the surface tension are found to be very sensitive to the values of the soft repulsion parameter between unlike DPD particles for high values of the coarse-graining level (number of water molecules per DPD particle). For the case in which a molecular surfactant is present at the interface we have determined the dependence of these properties on the values of the parameters that characterize the bonding force between polymer beads. No significant differences were found between linear and branched surfactants.

Keywords:

• Dissipative particle dynamics
• Surface tension
• Soft repulsion parameters
• Molecular surfactant

Acknowledgement

We are grateful to E. Nahmad for his encouragement and support for this work. MRB and RLR acknowledge additional financial support from CONACyT, México.