Molecular dynamics simulations of shock waves using the absorbing boundary condition: A case study of methane

We report a method that enables long-time molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of shock wave loading. The goal is to mitigate the severe interference effects that arise at interfaces or free boundaries when using standard nonequilibrium MD shock wave approaches. The essence of the method is to capture between two fixed pistons the material state at the precise instant in time when the shock front, initiated by a piston with velocity u(p) at one end of the target sample, traverses the contiguous boundary between the target and a second, stationary piston located at the opposite end of the sample, at which point the second piston is also assigned velocity u(p) and the simulation is continued. Thus, the target material is captured in the energy-volume Hugoniot state resulting from the initial shock wave, and can be propagated forward in time to monitor any subsequent chemistry, plastic deformation, or other time-dependent phenomena compatible with the spatial scale of the simulation. For demonstration purposes, we apply the method to shock-induced chemistry in methane based on the adaptive intermolecular reactive empirical bond order force field [S. J. Stuart , J. Chem. Phys. 112, 6472 (2000)].