Cluster integrals of convex molecule systems

Cluster integrals assigned to particles interacting via the Kihara non-spherical potential are studied theoretically. An exact formula is derived which allows one to consider the effect of molecular shape separately from the effect of soft interactions. Employing the proposed formalism, the cluster integrals are analysed. The approach is applied to determine the third virial coefficient and an efficient computational method is developed. The third virial coefficient was calculated for a combination of molecules with hard cores of prolate spher-ocylindrical- and spherical shapes interacting via the square-well, triangle-well and 12-6 pair potentials. Comparison with numerical results obtained by Monte Carlo integration is made and fair agreement is found.