Numerical heat conductivity in smooth particle applied mechanics

Smooth particle applied mechanics provides a method or solving the basic equations of continuum mechanics, interpolating these equations onto a grid made up of moving particles. The moving particle grid gives rise to a thoroughly artificial numerical heat conductivity, analogous to the numerical viscosities associated with finite-difference schemes. We exploit an isomorphism linking the smooth-particle method io conventional molecular dynamics, and evaluate this numerical heat conductivity. We find that the corresponding thermal diffusivity is comparable in value to the numerical kinematic viscosity, and that neither is described very well by the Enskog theory.