Simulation of cylindrical Poiseuille flow in multiparticle collision dynamics using explicit fluid-wall confining forces

Abstract

Multiparticle collision dynamics (MPC) is a numerical technique that has been extensively used in recent years to simulate fluids supporting hydrodynamic interactions and thermal fluctuations. In this paper, we describe a method that allows MPC fluids to be confined in cavities with a complex geometry. This method is based on the introduction of an explicit repulsive interaction between the particles of the MPC fluid and the walls of the confining cavities. We apply the proposed technique in simulations of MPC fluids confined in cylindrical channels and subjected to uniform pressure gradients. We show that our method yields the correct hydrodynamic cylindrical Poiseuille flow for stick boundary conditions. We conduct an extensive numerical analysis of the method to determine the kinematic viscosity of the simulated fluid, to study finite size effects and to establish the limits for its applicability. We conclude that this technique is reliable to simulate cylindrical Poiseuille flow for a wide range of system sizes, applied pressure gradients, and viscosities and densities of the simulated fluids.