Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 67, Number 2, July 2004
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 219 - 225 | |
Section | Interdisciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2004-10064-2 | |
Published online | 01 July 2004 |
Phase equilibria and fractionation in a polydisperse fluid
1
Department of Physics, University of Bath - Bath BA2 7AY, UK
2
Department of Mathematics, King's College London - Strand London WC2R 2LS, UK
Received:
17
March
2004
Accepted:
11
May
2004
We describe how Monte Carlo simulation within the grand canonical
ensemble can be applied to the study of phase behaviour in
polydisperse fluids. Attention is focused on the case of fixed
polydispersity in which the form of the “parent” density
distribution of the polydisperse attribute
σ is prescribed. Recently proposed computational methods
facilitate determination of the chemical potential distribution
conjugate to
. By additionally incorporating
extended sampling techniques within this approach, the
compositions of coexisting (“daughter”) phases can be obtained
and fractionation effects quantified. As a case study, we
investigate the liquid-vapor phase equilibria of a size-disperse
Lennard-Jones fluid exhibiting a large (
) degree of
polydispersity. Cloud and shadow curves are obtained, the latter
of which exhibit considerable fractionation with respect to the
parent. Additionally, we observe a surprisingly large degree of
broadening of the coexistence region relative to the
monodisperse limit.
PACS: 64.70.Fx – Liquid-vapor transitions / 61.20.Ja – Computer simulation of liquid structure / 68.35.Rh – Phase transitions and critical phenomena
© EDP Sciences, 2004
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