SURFACE-TENSION OF HARD-SPHERE FLUID NEAR A WALL

Two equivalent expressions for the surface tension of a hard sphere fluid near a rigid wall are deduced. The effect of an attractive potential between the wall and the fluid is included. Percus-Yevick and superposition approximations are used to calculate the surface tension, for densities n≲0.4, numerically. The superposition approximation describes the problem more accurately than the Percus-Yevick approximation. New inconsistencies are found in both of them. An equivalent but simpler integral equation for the density profile in the superposition approximation is proposed. © 1979 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.