THE SURFACE TENSION AND DENSITY PROFILE IN THE VAN KAMPEN MODEL OF A VAN DER WAALS FLUID IN A TWO-PHASE STATE,

Abstract

For the van Kampen model of a van der Waals fluid in a two-phase state, where the attractive part of the intermolecular potential is assumed to be of the Yukawa type, formulas for the surface tension and density profile are derived assuming the interface between the two phases is planar. These formulas give the surface tension gamma and the inverse of the density profile 1/n as definite integrals of explicitly known integrands and thus provide a means for calculating, by straight-forward numerical methods, the surface tension and density profile at any temperature. These integrals are evaluated analytically in the vicinity of the critical point and the results are found to be in agreement with the van der Waals-Cahn-Hilliard theory of surface tension in a van der Waals fluid near the critical point. This theory, found in the recent work of Cahn and Hilliard, is compared in detail with our critical point calculation and their equivalence is demonstrated. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1969
Accession Number
AD0687284

Entities

People

  • Dennis William Mcguire

Organizations

  • Harry Diamond Laboratories

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Integrals
  • Surface Tension

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Combustion Dynamics and Shock Wave Physics.
  • Materials Science and Engineering.