Scaling of atomistic fluid dynamics simulations

Abstract

We have performed a series of large-scale atomistic simulations of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability including up to $5.7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{9}$ particles and spanning time and length scales of up to $170\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{ns}$ and $45\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$, respectively. The results suggest that atomistic fluid dynamics simulations exhibit the same scaling as solutions of the continuum Navier-Stokes equations. Furthermore, a comparison with macroscopic Rayleigh-Taylor experiments suggests that the results of such atomistic simulations can, in fact, be scaled up to macroscopic dimensions, even for complex, nonstationary flows.