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Updated: Jul 10, 2026

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids
Published on: December 4, 2017
Relevance of angular momentum conservation in mesoscale hydrodynamics simulations
Ingo O Götze1, Hiroshi Noguchi, Gerhard Gompper
1Institut für Festkörperforschung, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany. i.goetze@fz-juelich.de
Abstract:
The angular momentum is conserved in fluids with a few exceptions such as ferrofluids. However, it can be violated locally in fluid simulations to reduce computational costs. The effects of this violation are investigated using a particle-based simulation method, multiparticle collision dynamics, which can switch on or off angular-momentum conservation. To this end, we study circular Couette flows between concentric and eccentric cylinders, where nonphysical torques due to the lack of the angular-momentum conservation are found whereas the velocity field is not affected. In addition, in simulations of fluids with different viscosities in contact and star polymers in solvent, incorrect angular velocities occur. These results quantitatively agree with the theoretical predictions based on the macroscopic stress tensor.
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