Isomorph invariance of Couette shear flows simulated by the SLLOD equations of motion

Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations were performed to study the thermodynamic, structural, and dynamical properties of the single-component Lennard-Jones and the Kob-Andersen binary Lennard-Jones liquids. Both systems are known to have strong correlations between equilibrium thermal fluctuations of virial and potential energy. Such systems have good isomorphs ( curves in the thermodynamic phase diagram along which structural, dynamical, and some thermodynamic quantities are invariant when expressed in reduced units). The SLLOD equations of motion were used to simulate Couette shear flows of the two systems. We show analytically that these equations are isomorph invariant provided the reduced strain rate is fixed along the isomorph. Since isomorph invariance is generally only approximate, a range of strain rates were simulated to test for the predicted invariance, covering both the linear and nonlinear regimes. For both systems, when represented in reduced units the radial distribution function and the intermediate scattering function are identical for state points that are isomorphic. The strain-rate dependent viscosity, which exhibits shear thinning, is also invariant along an isomorph. Our results extend the isomorph concept to the non-equilibrium situation of a shear flow, for which the phase diagram is three dimensional because the strain rate defines a third dimension. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4799273]