Scaling of atomistic fluid dynamics simulations

We have performed a series of large-scale atomistic simulations of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability including up to 5.7x10(9) particles and spanning time and length scales of up to 170 ns and 45 mu 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.