The liquid-vapor equilibria of TIP4P/2005 and BLYPSP-4F water models determined through direct simulations of the liquid-vapor interface

by Hu, Hongyi; Wang, Feng

In this paper, the surface tension and critical properties for the TIP4P/2005 and BLYPSP-4F models are reported. A clear dependence of surface tension on the van derWaals cutoff radius (r(vdw)) is shown when van der Waals interactions are modeled with a simple cutoff scheme. A linear extrapolation formula is proposed that can be used to determine the infinite r(vdw) surface tension through a few simulations with finite r(vdw). A procedure for determining liquid and vapor densities is proposed that does not require fitting to a profile function. Although the critical temperature of water is also found to depend on the choice of r(vdw), the dependence is weaker. We argue that a r(vdw) of 1.75 nm is a good compromise for water simulations when long-range van der Waals correction is not applied. Since the majority of computational programs do not support rigorous treatment of long-range dispersion, the establishment of a minimal acceptable r(vdw) is important for the simulation of a variety of inhomogeneous systems, such as water bubbles, and water in confined environments. The BLYPSP-4F model predicts room temperature surface tension marginally better than TIP4P/2005 but overestimates the critical temperature. This is expected since only liquid configurations were fit during the development of the BLYPSP-4F potential. The potential is expected to underestimate the stability of vapor and thus overestimate the region of stability for the liquid.

Journal
Journal of Chemical Physics
Volume
142
Issue
21
Year
2015
URL
https://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4922166
ISBN/ISSN
1089-7690; 0021-9606
DOI
10.1063/1.4922166