An effective modification of the Benedict–Webb–Rubin equation of state

A modification of the BWR equation of state is proposed, which is a simplified form of a previously proposed one. It applies to systems formed by hydrocarbons and related compounds, with particular attention to the critical conditions. The range of treatable compounds was extended to a value 0.9 of the acentric factor, corresponding to C₂₀ hydrocarbons. The critical compressibility factor Z_c was made independent of the acentric factor, for a more accurate prediction of pure-component properties (the previous equation did not give the same improvement). Mixing rules require one binary interaction constant for each component pair. Zero binary constants can be used for methane–alkane and alkane–alkane pairs. Examples of applications to pure hydrocarbons and their mixtures are given.     

Wagner liquid–vapour pressure equation constants from a simple methodology

A methodology to determine the A, B, C, and D constants from the Wagner equation is presented. The constants for 274 pure substances were determined by minimization in the sum of the squares of the relative deviation in liquid vapour pressure. For 69 chemical compounds, vapour pressures exist over the range from 1 kPa to the critical pressure and an average absolute deviation in vapour pressure of 0.039% was calculated. Using Antoine equation coefficients and initial guesses for a correlation in terms of the acentric factor, Wagner constants were estimated for substances with limited data within the range from (1 to 200) kPa. To validate the proposed methodology, vapour pressure predictions from 1 kPa to the critical pressure were made for 52 substances using Wagner parameters estimated from limited data. A value of 0.27% in average absolute deviation results for those substances. Finally the Waring criterion was applied to check the constants presented in this paper.     

Nonexistence of local conservation laws for generalized Swift–Hohenberg equation

We prove that the generalized Swift–Hohenberg equation with nonlinear right-hand side, a natural generalization of the Swift–Hohenberg equation arising in physics, chemistry and biology and describing inter alia pattern formation, has no nontrivial local conservation laws.

     

Highly accurate and simple analytical approach to nonlinear Poisson–Boltzmann equation

A novel method is suggested to analytically solve a nonlinear Poisson–Boltzmann (NLPB) equation. The method consists chiefly of reducing the NLPB equation to linear PB equation in several segments by approximating a free term of the NLPB equation by piecewise linear functions, and then, solving analytically the linear PB equation in each segment. Superiority of the method is illustrated by applying the method to solve the NLPB equation describing a colloid sphere immersed in an arbitrary valence and mixed electrolyte solution; extensive test indicates that the resulting analytical expressions for both the electrical potential distribution Ψ (r) and surface charge density/surface potential relationship (σ/Ψ ₀) are characterized with two properties that mathematical structures are much simpler than those previously reported and application scope can be arbitrarily wide by adjusting the linear interpolation range. Finally, it is noted that the method is “universal” in that its applications are not limited to the NLPB equation.     

Modified two-derivative Runge–Kutta methods for the Schrödinger equation

A family of modified two-derivative Runge–Kutta (MTDRK) methods for the integration of the Schrödinger equation are obtained. Two new three-stage and fifth order TDRK methods are derived. The numerical results in the integration of the radial Schrödinger equation with the Woods–Saxon potential are reported to show the high efficiency of our new methods. The results of the error analysis are illustrated by the resonance problem.     

Incorporation of the electron energy-loss straggling into the Fermi–Eyges equation

A modified Fermi–Eyges equation has been derived from the linear Boltzmann equation by including a term for describing electron energy-loss straggling. The solution has been obtained by the use of a generalized Eyges' method, yielding the electron energy distribution expressed with moments method in addition to Eyges' original solution. The first- and second-order approximations of the spectrum give the well-known continuous-slowing-down approximation (CSDA) and Gaussian distribution, respectively. Inclusion of the third-order moment in the spectrum yields the Vavilov distribution approximated with the Airy function. The higher order approximations can be evaluated numerically.     

Kohn–Sham potentials by an inverse Kohn–Sham equation and accuracy assessment by virial theorem

In the recent study, the authors have proposed an integral equation for solving the inverse Kohn–Sham problem. In the present paper, the integral equation is numerically solved for one-dimensional model of a He atom and an H₂ molecule in the electronic ground states. For this purpose, we propose an iterative solution algorithm avoiding the inversion of the kernel of the integral equation. To quantify the numerical accuracy of the calculated exchange-correlation potentials, we evaluate the exchange and correlation energies based on the virial theorem as well as the reproduction of the exact ground-state electronic energy. The results demonstrate that the numerical solutions of our integral equation for the inverse Kohn–Sham problem are accurate enough in reproducing the Kohn–Sham potential and in satisfying the virial theorem.     

P–V–T properties of polymer melts based on equation of state and neural network

An accurate and efficient analytical equation of state (EOS) and artificial neural network (ANN) methods are developed for the prediction of volumetric properties of polymer melts. To apply EOS, the second virial coefficients B₂(T), effective van der Waals co-volume, b(T) and correction factor, α(T) were determined. The second virial coefficient was calculated from a two-parameter corresponding states correlation, which is constructed with two constants as scaling parameters, i.e., temperature (T_f) and density at melting (ρ_f) point. The new correlations were used to predict the specific volumes of polypropylene glycol (PPG), polyethylene glycol (PEG), polypropylene (PP), polyvinylchloride (PVC), poly(1-butene)(PB1), poly (?-caprolactone) (PCL), polyethylene (PE) and polyvinylmethylether (PVME) at compressed state in the temperature range of 298.15–634.6 K. The obtained results show that the two models have good agreement with the experimental data with absolute average deviation of 0.28% and 0.39% for ANN and EOS, respectively. The Comparison of the results with ISM model shows that the proposed models represent an efficient method and are more accurate.     

On the applicability of Young–Laplace equation for nanoscale liquid drops

Debates continue on the applicability of the Young–Laplace equation for droplets, vapor bubbles and gas bubbles in nanoscale. It is more meaningful to find the error range of the Young–Laplace equation in nanoscale instead of making the judgement of its applicability. To do this, for seven liquid argon drops (containing 800, 1000, 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, or 2000 particles, respectively) at T = 78 K we determined the radius of surface of tension R_s and the corresponding surface tension γ_s by molecular dynamics simulation based on the expressions of R_s and γ_s in terms of the pressure distribution for droplets. Compared with the two-phase pressure difference directly obtained by MD simulation, the results show that the absolute values of relative error of two-phase pressure difference given by the Young–Laplace equation are between 0.0008 and 0.027, and the surface tension of the argon droplet increases with increasing radius of surface of tension, which supports that the Tolman length of Lennard-Jones droplets is positive and that Lennard-Jones vapor bubbles is negative. Besides, the logic error in the deduction of the expressions of the radius and the surface tension of surface of tension, and in terms of the pressure distribution for liquid drops in a certain literature is corrected.     

Correlated driving-and-dissipation equation for non-Condon spectroscopy with the Herzberg–Teller vibronic coupling

Correlated driving-and-dissipation equation (CODDE) is an optimized complete second-order quantum dissipation approach, which is originally concerned with the reduced system dynamics only. However, one can actually extract the hybridized bath dynamics from CODDE with the aid of dissipaton-equation-of-motion theory, a statistical quasi-particle quantum dissipation formalism. Treated as a one–dissipaton theory, CODDE is successfully extended to deal with the Herzberg–Teller vibronic couplings in dipole–field interactions. Demonstrations will be carried out on the non-Condon spectroscopies of a model dimer system.     

Simulation of double retrograde vaporization using the Peng–Robinson equation of state

Double retrograde vaporization is a phenomenon characterized by an unexpected retrograde dew point curve at compositions approaching nearly the pure volatile component (component A) and at temperatures very close to the critical temperature of the more volatile component (Tc_A). On the p–x–y diagram, instead of the single-domed dew point curve in the familiar “single” retrograde vaporization, double retrograde vaporization shows two “domes” at temperatures above but close to Tc_A. At temperatures below but close to Tc_A, the dew point curve has an “S”-shape. This results respectively in quadruple- or triple-valued dew points at a specific composition. In this work, the phenomenon of double retrograde vaporization has been simulated using a cubic equation of state. Both the “double-dome” and the “S”-shape curves for the binary systems (ethane+linalool) and (ethane+d-limonene) were successfully modelled, even without the use of binary interaction parameters. Results are also obtained by optimizing interaction parameters using experimental bubble point data. Even though double retrograde vaporization has rarely been observed in literature, we believe that it is the normal behaviour that always occurs in binary mixtures in which the two components differ largely enough in molecular symmetry to produce a very steep dew point curve. To further verify this generality, simulations were performed on a number of binary mixtures of different families. Double retrograde vaporization was estimated in every system with a steep dew point curve.     

Liquid–liquid equilibria of copolymer mixtures based on an equation of state

Liquid–liquid equilibria of copolymer mixtures were studied by an equation of state (EoS) for chain-like fluids. The equation consists of a reference term for hetero-nuclear hard-sphere chain fluids developed by Hu et al. where the next-to-nearest-neighbor correlations have been taken into account; and a perturbation term from Alder et al.’s square-well attractive potential. The segment parameters, including number of segments, segment diameter and interaction energy between segments, are obtained by fitting pVT data of pure homopolymer. For the case of different species in the same copolymer, the interaction parameters for unlike segment pairs are obtained by fitting pVT data of pure copolymer. For the interaction between segment of homopolymer and different species in copolymer, the parameters are treated as adjustable by fitting liquid–liquid equilibria data. In the latter case, the difference between different species in a copolymer is simply neglected as an approximation. Therefore, in general, only one pair of adjustable interaction parameter is determined from LLE data. To model miscibility maps of copolymer mixtures having two or three kinds of species, the interaction parameters are obtained from the boundary between miscible and immiscible regions. The EoS used in this work can correlate phase behavior including coexistence curves, miscibility windows and miscibility maps.     

A new equation for the correlation of surface tension–composition data of solvent–solvent and solvent–fused salt mixtures

An attempt has been made to propose accurate equations for correlating the surface tension of binary liquid mixtures. The method is applicable to the systems comprising of components with widely different molecular sizes. Two adjustable parameters, δ_p and δ_m obtained from the least squares analyses of the surface tension–composition data are reported for a number of systems. Temperature dependence of δ_p and δ_m is demonstrated for a few systems. The framework of operational equations has later been applied to cover multi-component systems comprising of fused salts with a single liquid component in full mole fraction range. Excellent fits of the surface tension for binary, ternary and multi-component ionic systems in aqueous or non-aqueous media have been obtained from the proposed method. The surface tension–composition data of 59 different types of systems with about 400 data points can be correlated by the equation with an average percent deviation of about 0.61. In contrast to previous equations from literature to calculate surface tension data, the proposed correlation is noted to be more accurate in different situations.     

Runge–Kutta–Nyström methods with equation dependent coefficients and reduced phase lag for oscillatory problems

A new family of one-parameter equation dependent Runge–Kutta–Nyström (EDRKN) methods for the numerical solution of second–order differential equations are investigated. The coefficients of new three-stage EDRKN methods are obtained by nullifying up to appropriate order of moments of operators related to the internal and external stages. A fifth-order EDRKN method that is dispersive of order six and dissipative of order five and a fourth-order EDRKN method that is dispersive of order four and zero-dissipative are derived. Phase analysis shows that there exist no explicit EDRKN methods that are P-stable. Numerical experiments are reported to show the high accuracy and efficiency of the new EDRKN methods.     

Phase equilibria study of Lennard–Jones mixtures by an analytical equation of state

The recently developed equation of state (EOS) for Lennard–Jones mixtures [Y. Tang, B.C.-Y. Lu, Fluid Phase Equilibria 146 (1998) 73.] is further investigated in this work for describing phase equilibria of these mixtures. The investigation covers vapor–liquid equilibria (VLE), liquid–liquid equilibria (LLE), vapor–liquid–liquid equilibria (VLLE) and vapor–vapor equilibria (VVE) over a wide range of temperatures, pressures and molecular characteristic parameters. Results from the van der Waals one-fluid (VDW1) theory are included for comparison. The newly proposed theory performs very well for VLE and LLE and the performance is better than the VDW1 theory; but both theories yield only qualitative results for VVE. It is also found that one system should exhibit VLLE, which was not noticed in previous investigations. Results from two other perturbation theories are also compared in some cases.     

Theory on the rate equation of Michaelis–Menten type single-substrate enzyme catalyzed reactions

Analytical solution to the Michaelis–Menten (MM) rate equations for single-substrate enzyme catalysed reaction is not known. Here we introduce an effective scaling scheme and identify the critical parameters which can completely characterize the entire dynamics of single substrate MM enzymes. Using this scaling framework, we reformulate the differential rate equations of MM enzymes over velocity-substrate, velocity-product, substrate-product and velocity-substrate-product spaces and obtain various approximations for both pre- and post-steady state dynamical regimes. Using this framework, under certain limiting conditions we successfully compute the timescales corresponding to steady state, pre- and post-steady states and also compute the approximate steady state values of velocity, substrate and product. We further define the dynamical efficiency of MM enzymes as the ratio between the reaction path length in the velocity-substrate-product space and the average reaction time required to convert the entire substrate into product. Here dynamical efficiency characterizes the phase-space dynamics and it would tell us how fast an enzyme can clear a harmful substrate from the environment. We finally perform a detailed error level analysis over various pre- and post-steady state approximations along with the already existing quasi steady state approximations and progress curve models and discuss the positive and negative points corresponding to various steady state and progress curve models.     

Simple modification of the temperature dependence of the Sanchez–Lacombe equation of state

In this work, the interaction energy term of the Sanchez–Lacombe equation of state (SL EOS) was modified to take into account the temperature dependence of hydrogen bonding and ionic interactions. A simple function was used in the form of the Langmuir equation that reduces to the original SL EOS at high temperature. Comparisons are shown between the ?*-modified SL EOS and the original SL EOS. The ?*-modified SL EOS could represent volumetric data for the group of non-polar fluids, polar fluids and ionic liquids to within an absolute average deviation (AAD) of 0.85%, 0.51%, and 0.054%, respectively whereas, the original Sanchez–Lacombe EOS gave AAD values of 0.99%, 1.2%, and 0.21%, respectively. The ?*-modified SL EOS provides remarkably better PVT representation and can be readily applied to mixtures.     

Exact solution of the Schrödinger equation with a Lennard–Jones potential

The Schrödinger equation with a Lennard–Jones potential is solved by using a procedure that treats in a rigorous way the irregular singularities at the origin and at infinity. Global solutions are obtained thanks to the computation of the connection factors between Floquet and Thomé solutions. The energies of the bound states result as zeros of a function defined by a convergent series whose successive terms are calculated by means of recurrence relations. The procedure gives also the wave functions expressed either as a linear combination of two Laurent expansions, at moderate distances, or as an asymptotic expansion, near the singular points. A table of the critical intensities of the potential, for which a new bound state (of zero energy) appears, is also given.     

The exact solution to the one-dimensional Poisson–Boltzmann equation with asymmetric boundary conditions

The exact solution to the one-dimensional Poisson–Boltzmann equation with asymmetric boundary conditions can be expressed in terms of the Jacobi elliptic functions. The boundary conditions determine the modulus of the Jacobi elliptic functions. The boundary conditions can not be solved analytically, thus a numerical scheme has been applied.