Van der Waals Theory of Transport in Dense Fluids

Abstract

An accurate and simple theory of transport properties is developed on the basis of the van der Waals concept of a dense fluid. It is shown that the calculated values for the transport coefficients for the rare gases at temperatures and densities greater than the respective critical ones agree to within about 10% with the experimental results in both absolute value and temperature dependence, without invoking an activation barrier. In this a priori theory, the cross section, that is, the hard-sphere diameter, is determined as a function of temperature from the available equilibrium data, within the framework of the van der Waals theory.