Computer simulation of liquid/liquid interfaces. I. Theory and application to octane/water

Statistical ensembles for simulating liquid interfaces at constant pressure and/or surface tension are examined, and equations of motion for molecular dynamics are obtained by various extensions of the Andersen extended system approach. Valid ensembles include: constant normal pressure and surface area; constant tangential pressure and length normal to the interface; constant volume and surface tension; and constant normal pressure and surface tension. Simulations at 293 K and 1 atm normal pressure show consistent results with each other and with a simulation carried out at constant volume and energy. Calculated surface tensions for octane/water (61.5 dyn/cm), octane/vacuum (20.4 dyn/cm) and water/vacuum (70.2 dyn/cm) are in very good agreement with experiment (51.6, 21.7, and 72.8 dyn/cm, respectively). The practical consequences of simulating with two other approaches commonly used for isotropic systems are demonstrated on octane/water: applying equal normal and tangential pressures leads to an instability; and applying a constant isotropic pressure of 1 atm leads to a large positive normal pressure. Both results are expected for a system of nonzero surface tension. Mass density and water polarization profiles in the liquid/liquid and liquid/vapor interfaces are also compared.