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Updated: Apr 27, 2026

Accurate Determination of the Equilibrium Surface Tension Values with Area Perturbation Tests
Published on: August 30, 2019
The gas-liquid surface tension of argon: a reconciliation between experiment and simulation
Florent Goujon1, Patrice Malfreyt1, Dominic J Tildesley2
1ICCF, UMR CNRS 6296, Université Blaise Pascal, 63177 Aubière Cedex, France.
Abstract:
We present a simulation of the liquid-vapor interface of argon with explicit inclusion of the three-body interactions. The three-body contributions to the surface tension are calculated using the Kirkwood-Buff approach. Monte Carlo calculations of the long-range corrections to the three-body contribution are calculated from the radial distribution function g((2))(z1, cos θ12, r12). Whereas the effective two-body potentials overestimate the surface tension by more than 15%, the inclusion of the three-body potential provides an excellent agreement with the experimental results for temperatures up to 15 K below the critical temperature. We conclude that the three-body interactions must be explicitly included in accurately modelling the surface tension of argon.
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