Jean-Bernard Maillet

Microscopic Approaches to Liquid Nitromethane Detonation Properties

In this paper, thermodynamic and chemical properties of nitromethane are investigated using microscopic simulations. The Hugoniot curve of the inert explosive is computed using Monte Carlo simulations with a modified version of the adaptative Erpenbeck equation of state and a recently developed intermolecular potential. Molecular dynamic simulations of nitromethane decomposition have been performed using a reactive potential, allowing the calculation of kinetic rate constants and activation energies. Finally, the Crussard curve of detonation products as well as thermodynamic properties at the Chapman-Jouguet (CJ) point are computed using reactive ensemble Monte Carlo simulations. Results are in good agreement with both thermochemical calculations and experimental measurements.

FROM MOLECULAR CLUSTERS TO BULK MATTER. II. CROSSOVER FROM ICOSAHEDRAL TO CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURES IN CO2 CLUSTERS

The change in structure with size in (CO2)N clusters has been investigated in the crossover regime from icosahedral to cubic morphology (N=19 to 55) by molecular dynamics simulation. All the minima in the potential energy surface (PES) visited by the solid clusters at finite temperature have been characterized using a local structure analysis method. A simple picture of the change in free-energy minimum with size in CO2 solid clusters emerges from this work. It is based on the relative stability of two energy basins in the PES corresponding to the icosahedral and cubic-like structure, respectively. In addition, some evidence is provided for the existence of an icosahedral supercooled liquid in the size range near N∼50.

Molecular simulations of Hugoniots of detonation product mixtures at chemical equilibrium: Microscopic calculation of the Chapman-Jouguet state

In this work, we used simultaneously the reaction ensemble Monte Carlo (ReMC) method and the adaptive Erpenbeck equation of state (AE-EOS) method to directly calculate the thermodynamic and chemical equilibria of mixtures of detonation products on the Hugoniot curve. The ReMC method [W. R. Smith and B. Triska, J. Chem. Phys. 100, 3019 (1994)] allows us to reach the chemical equilibrium of a reacting mixture, and the AE-EOS method [J. J. Erpenbeck, Phys. Rev. A 46, 6406 (1992)] constrains the system to satisfy the Hugoniot relation. Once the Hugoniot curve of the detonation product mixture is established, the Chapman-Jouguet (CJ) state of the explosive can be determined. A NPT simulation at P(CJ) and T(CJ) is then performed in order to calculate direct thermodynamic properties and the following derivative properties of the system using a fluctuation method: calorific capacities, sound velocity, and Gruneisen coefficient. As the chemical composition fluctuates, and the number of particles is not necessarily constant in this ensemble, a fluctuation formula has been developed to take into account the fluctuations of mole number and composition. This type of calculation has been applied to several usual energetic materials: nitromethane, tetranitromethane, hexanitroethane, PETN, and RDX.

Structure and Dynamics of Simulated (SF6)N Clusters in the Size Range N=7-55

Isolated (SF6)N clusters have been studied by molecular dynamics simulations in order to complete the temperature‐size phase diagram for small clusters sizes (N≤55). The transition between noncrystalline and crystalline ‘‘bulk‐like’’ properties occurs in the size range between 13 and 19 molecules. This is two orders of magnitude below the range in which the same transition occurs in argon. Some evidence is provided of the existence of a triple point in the temperature‐size phase diagram of SF6 at T∼60 K and N∼34 molecules. In very small clusters such as (SF6)7 and (SF6)13, the centers of masses of the octahedral sulfur hexafluoride molecules can accommodate to a fivefold symmetry with some distortions. Contrary to what had been observed in Lennard‐Jones (LJ)13, no sign of a sharp ‘‘transition’’ with coexistence between rigid and nonrigid states was found here. This has been explained in terms of the existence of many quasidegenerate low energy states in the potential energy surface of small SF6 clusters.

Mesoscopic simulations of shock-to-detonation transition in reactive liquid high explosive

An extension of the model described in a previous work (see Maillet J. B. et al., EPL, 78 (2007) 68001) based on Dissipative Particle Dynamics is presented and applied to a liquid high explosive (HE), with thermodynamic properties mimicking those of liquid nitromethane. Large scale nonequilibrium simulations of reacting liquid HE with model kinetic under sustained shock conditions allow a better understanding of the shock-to-detonation transition in homogeneous explosives. Moreover, the propagation of the reactive wave appears discontinuous since ignition points in the shocked material can be activated by the compressive waves emitted from the onset of chemical reactions.

Molecular based equation of state for shocked liquid nitromethane

An approach is proposed to obtain the equation of state of unreactive shocked liquid nitromethane. Unlike previous major works, this equation of state is not based on extended integration schemes [P.C. Lysne, D.R. Hardesty, Fundamental equation of state of liquid nitromethane to 100 kbar, J. Chem. Phys. 59 (1973) 6512]. It does not follow the way proposed by Winey et al. [J.M. Winey, G.E. Duvall, M.D. Knudson, Y.M. Gupta, Equation of state and temperature measurements for shocked nitromethane, J. Chem. Phys. 113 (2000) 7492] where the specific heat C(v), the isothermal bulk modulus B(T) and the coefficient of thermal pressure (deltaP/deltaT)(v) are modeled as functions of temperature and volume using experimental data. In this work, we compute the complete equation of state by microscopic calculations. Indeed, by means of Monte Carlo molecular simulations, we have proposed a new force field for nitromethane that lead to a good description of shock properties [N. Desbiens, E. Bourasseau, J.-B. Maillet, Potential optimization for the calculation of shocked liquid nitromethane properties, Mol. Sim. 33 (2007) 1061; A. Hervouët, N. Desbiens, E. Bourasseau, J.-B. Maillet, Microscopic approaches to liquid nitromethane detonation properties, J. Phys. Chem. B 112 (2008) 5070]. Particularly, it has been shown that shock temperatures and second shock temperatures are accurately reproduced which is significative of the quality of the potential. Here, thermodynamic derivative properties are computed: specific heats, Grüneisen parameter, sound velocity among others, along the Hugoniot curve. This work constitutes to our knowledge the first determination of the equation of state of an unreactive shocked explosive by molecular simulations.

A reduced model for shock and detonation waves. II. The reactive case

We present a mesoscopic model for reactive shock waves, which extends the model proposed in G. Stoltz, Europhys. Lett., 76 (2006) 849. A complex molecule (or a group of molecules) is replaced by a single mesoparticle, evolving according to some Dissipative Particle Dynamics. Chemical reactions can be handled in a mean way by considering an additional variable per particle describing the progress of the reaction. The evolution of the progress variable is governed by the kinetics of a reversible exothermic reaction. Numerical results give profiles in qualitative agreement with all-atom studies.

Thermodynamic behavior of the CO2 + NO2/N2O4 mixture: a Monte Carlo simulation study.

The thermodynamic behavior of the carbon dioxide + nitrogen dioxide (CO2 + NO2) mixture was investigated using a Monte Carlo molecular simulation approach. This system is a particularly challenging one because nitrogen dioxide exists as a mixture of monomers (NO2) and dimers (N2O4) under certain pressure and temperature conditions. The chemical equilibrium between N2O4 and 2NO2 and the vapor-liquid equilibrium of CO2 + NO2/N2O4 mixtures were simulated using simultaneously the reaction ensemble and the Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo (RxMC and GEMC) methods. Rigid all atoms molecular potentials bearing point charges were proposed to model both NO2 and N2O4 species. Liquid-vapor coexistence properties of the reacting NO2/N2O4 system were first investigated. The calculated vapor pressures and coexisting densities were compared to experimental values, leading to an average deviation of 10% for vapor pressures and 6% for liquid densities. The critical region was also addressed successfully using the subcritical Monte Carlo simulation results and some appropriate scaling laws. Predictions of CO2 + NO2/N2O4 phase diagrams at 300, 313, and 330 K were then proposed. Derivative properties calculations were also performed in the reaction ensemble at constant pressure and temperature for both NO2/N2O4 and CO2 + NO2/N2O4 systems. The calculated heat capacities show a maximum in the temperature range where N2O4 dissociation occurs, in agreement with available experimental data.

Microscopic calculations of Hugoniot curves of neat triaminotrinitrobenzene (TATB) and of its detonation products.

We compute the Hugoniot curves of both neat triaminotrinitrobenzene (TATB) and its detonation products mixture using atomistic simulation tools. To compute the Hugoniot states, we adapted our sampling constraints in average (SCA) method (Maillet et al. Appl. Math. Res. eXpress 2009, 2008, abn004) to Monte Carlo simulations. For neat TATB, we show that the potential proposed by Rai (Rai et al. J. Chem. Phys. 2008, 129, 194510) is not accurate enough to predict the Hugoniot curve and requires some optimization of its parameters. Concerning the detonation products, thermodynamic properties at chemical equilibrium are computed using a specific reaction ensemble Monte Carlo (RxMC) method (Bourasseau et al. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2011, 13, 7060), taking into account the presence of carbon clusters in the fluid mixture. We show that this explicit description of the solid phase immersed in the fluid phase modifies the chemical equilibrium.

Permutation-invariant distance between atomic configurations

We present a permutation-invariant distance between atomic configurations, defined through a functional representation of atomic positions. This distance enables us to directly compare different atomic environments with an arbitrary number of particles, without going through a space of reduced dimensionality (i.e., fingerprints) as an intermediate step. Moreover, this distance is naturally invariant through permutations of atoms, avoiding the time consuming associated minimization required by other common criteria (like the root mean square distance). Finally, the invariance through global rotations is accounted for by a minimization procedure in the space of rotations solved by Monte Carlo simulated annealing. A formal framework is also introduced, showing that the distance we propose verifies the property of a metric on the space of atomic configurations. Two examples of applications are proposed. The first one consists in evaluating faithfulness of some fingerprints (or descriptors), i.e., their capacity to represent the structural information of a configuration. The second application concerns structural analysis, where our distance proves to be efficient in discriminating different local structures and even classifying their degree of similarity.