A transferable orthogonal tight-binding (TB) model for Pd and Ag is develop
ed by the simultaneous fit to the energy levels and total energies of a num
ber of clusters of up to 55 atoms in size, as well as the total energies of
fee and bee structures all obtained from density functional calculations.
The effect of the environment is included by incorporating two-center intra
-atomic parameters and local environment dependent on-site atomic energy le
vels. The scheme is tested by comparing its predictions of both bulk and cl
uster properties with those from ab initio calculations. It is then used to
study the behavior of relaxed icosahedral and cubo-octahedral clusters of
up to 201 atoms in size.