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Updated: May 29, 2026

Accurate Determination of the Equilibrium Surface Tension Values with Area Perturbation Tests
Published on: August 30, 2019
Local pressure components and surface tension of spherical interfaces. Thermodynamic versus mechanical definitions.
Aziz Ghoufi1, Patrice Malfreyt
1Institut de Physique de Rennes, UMR CNRS 6251, Université Rennes 1, 263 avenue du Général Leclerc, 35042 Rennes, France. Aziz.Ghoufi@univ-rennes1.fr
Abstract:
We report mesoscale simulations of spherical drops to investigate the surface tension and mechanical properties. The Monte Carlo simulations are performed with the multibody potential commonly used in the many-body dissipative particle dynamics simulations. We establish here the calculation of the local normal and transverse components of the pressure tensor via the perturbation volume within the thermodynamic route. The different profiles of these components are compared to those calculated using the mechanical approach. To complete the mesoscale modeling of drops, we investigate the curvature dependence of the surface tension in order to calculate the Tolman's length, which is found to be negative.
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