Molecular Dynamics modelling of effusion into a vacuum

This previous post introduced a simple molecular dynamics simulation for the equilibration of the speeds of the particles of an ideal gas. The present post extends the code a little to model the effusion of an ideal gas through a small hole into a vacuum.

The right hand panel plots the number of particles on each side of the partition: the gas rapidly reaches a state with roughly equal number of particles in the left and right hand side regions. The molecular basis for the concept of entropy is clear: the gas spontaneously fills the entire region and is extremely unlikely to separate again. Macroscopically, the process is irreversible: there is a very low probability that all of the particles from the right hand side would find themselves with trajectories taking them through the hole at the same time.

import numpy as np
from scipy.spatial.distance import pdist, squareform
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.patches as patches
import matplotlib.path as path
from matplotlib.animation import FuncAnimation

X, Y = 0, 1
class MDSimulation:

def __init__(self, pos, vel, r, m):
"""
Initialize the simulation with identical, circular particles of radius
r and mass m. The n x 2 state arrays pos and vel hold the n particles'
positions in their rows as (x_i, y_i) and (vx_i, vy_i).

"""

self.pos = np.asarray(pos, dtype=float)
self.vel = np.asarray(vel, dtype=float)
self.n = self.pos.shape[0]
self.r = r
self.m = m
self.nsteps = 0

"""Advance the simulation by dt seconds."""

self.nsteps += 1
# Update the particles' positions according to their velocities.
self.pos += self.vel * dt
# Find indices for all unique collisions.
dist = squareform(pdist(self.pos))
iarr, jarr = np.where(dist < 2 * self.r)
k = iarr < jarr
iarr, jarr = iarr[k], jarr[k]

# For each collision, update the velocities of the particles involved.
for i, j in zip(iarr, jarr):
pos_i, vel_i = self.pos[i], self.vel[i]
pos_j, vel_j =  self.pos[j], self.vel[j]
rel_pos, rel_vel = pos_i - pos_j, vel_i - vel_j
r_rel = rel_pos @ rel_pos
v_rel = rel_vel @ rel_pos
v_rel = 2 * rel_pos * v_rel / r_rel - rel_vel
v_cm = (vel_i + vel_j) / 2
self.vel[i] = v_cm - v_rel/2
self.vel[j] = v_cm + v_rel/2

# Bounce the particles off the walls where necessary, by reflecting
# their velocity vectors.
hit_left_wall = self.pos[:, X] < self.r
hit_right_wall = self.pos[:, X] > 1 - self.r
hit_bottom_wall = self.pos[:, Y] < self.r
hit_top_wall = self.pos[:, Y] > 1 - self.r
self.vel[hit_left_wall | hit_right_wall, X] *= -1
self.vel[hit_bottom_wall | hit_top_wall, Y] *= -1

hit_middle_wall = (  (  (self.pos[:, Y] < (0.5 - hole_r))
| (self.pos[:, Y] > (0.5 + hole_r))
)
& (  (self.pos[:, X] > (0.5 - self.r / 2))
& (self.pos[:, X] < (0.5 + self.r / 2))
)
)
self.vel[hit_middle_wall] *= -1

# Number of particles.
n = 100
# Scaling factor for distance, m-1. The box dimension is therefore 1/rscale.
rscale = 5.e6
# Use the van der Waals radius of Ar, about 0.2 nm.
r = 20e-10 * rscale
# Scale time by this factor, in s-1.
tscale = 1e9    # i.e. time will be measured in nanoseconds.
# Take the mean speed to be the 150 m.s-1.
sbar = 150 * rscale / tscale
# Time step in scaled time units.
FPS = 30
dt = 1/FPS
# Particle masses, scaled by some factor we're not using yet.
m = 1

# "Radius" (i.e. half-width) of the one-dimensional hole in the middle wall.
hole_r = 0.02

# Initialize the particles' positions randomly in the LHS of the box.
pos = np.random.random((n, 2)) * (0.5, 1)
# Initialize the particles velocities with random orientations and random
# magnitudes  around the mean speed, sbar.
theta = np.random.random(n) * 2 * np.pi
s0 = sbar * np.random.random(n)
vel = (s0 * np.array((np.cos(theta), np.sin(theta)))).T

sim = MDSimulation(pos, vel, r, m)

# Set up the Figure and make some adjustments to improve its appearance.
DPI = 100
width, height = 1000, 500
fig = plt.figure(figsize=(width/DPI, height/DPI), dpi=DPI)
sim_ax.set_xticks([])
sim_ax.set_yticks([])
# Make the box walls a bit more substantial.
for spine in sim_ax.spines.values():
spine.set_linewidth(2)

npart_ax.set_xlabel('Time, $t\;/\mathrm{ns}$')
npart_ax.set_ylabel('Number of particles')
npart_ax.set_xlim(0, 100)
npart_ax.set_ylim(0, n)
npart_ax.axhline(n/2, 0, 1, color='k', lw=1)

particles, = sim_ax.plot([], [], 'o', color='k')
sim_ax.vlines(0.5, 0, 0.5 - hole_r, lw=2, color='k')
sim_ax.vlines(0.5, 0.5 + hole_r, 1, lw=2, color='k')
sim_ax.axvspan(0, 0.5, 0., 1, facecolor='tab:blue', alpha=0.3)
sim_ax.axvspan(0.5, 1, 0., 1, facecolor='tab:orange', alpha=0.3)

LHSlabel_pos = 0.25, 1.05
LHSlabel = sim_ax.text(*LHSlabel_pos, 'LHS: {:d}'.format(n), ha='center')
RHSlabel_pos = 0.75, 1.05
RHSlabel = sim_ax.text(*RHSlabel_pos, 'RHS: 0', ha='center')

RHSline, = npart_ax.plot([0], [0], c='k', label='RHS')
t, nLHS, nRHS = [], [], []

def animate(i):
"""Advance the animation by one step and update the frame."""
global sim, verts

particles.set_data(sim.pos[:, X], sim.pos[:, Y])
particles.set_markersize(4)

t.append(i*dt)
nLHS = sum(sim.pos[:, X] < 0.5)
nRHS.append(n - nLHS)

LHSlabel.set_text('LHS: {:d}'.format(nLHS))
RHSlabel.set_text('RHS: {:d}'.format(nRHS[-1]))

RHSline.set_data(t, nRHS)

npart_ax.collections.clear()
npart_ax.fill_between(t, nRHS, facecolor='tab:orange', alpha=0.3)
npart_ax.fill_between(t, nRHS, n, facecolor='tab:blue', alpha=0.3)

return particles, LHSlabel, RHSlabel, RHSline

# Number of frames; set to None to run until explicitly quit.
nframes = 3000
anim = FuncAnimation(fig, animate, frames=nframes, interval=10)
#anim.save('effusion.mp4')
plt.show()

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