Configurational temperature profile in confined fluids. I. Atomic fluid

Two configurational expressions for the temperature are applied to the calc ulation of temperature profiles within a confined atomic fluid in a narrow slit pore. The configurational temperatures profiles so obtained are compar ed to the kinetic temperature, calculated from the equipartition principle, in equilibrium (EMD), and nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulat ions of planar Poiseuille flow. We show that one of the configurational exp ressions exhibits a system-size dependence which prevents its application t o the determination of high-resolution temperature profiles. The other expr ession yields good agreement with the kinetic temperature profile in both e quilibrium and nonequilibrium systems. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physi cs.