Alexander Schlaich

This study extends entropy scaling to inhomogeneous fluids by using the classical density functional theory together with a new viscosity reference that takes into account the influence of solid–fluid interactions on the fluid viscosity. The density functional theory uses a Helmholtz energy functional based on the perturbed-chain statistical associating fluid theory; the local residual entropy per particle is determined from the temperature derivative of the Helmholtz energy functional in combination with an appropriate weighted density profile. The weighted density calculation requires a single transferable parameter, which is adjusted to a reference molecular dynamics simulation. In particular, local viscosity values for fluids under nanoconfinement near solid–fluid interfaces are predicted using the same entropy scaling parameters as for homogeneous fluids. We validate the model by comparing viscosity and velocity profiles with results from non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations of a Couette flow in a slit pore. Good agreement is found between the entropy scaling model and the non-equilibrium molecular dynamics results for both the viscosity and velocity profiles of the Lennard–Jones truncated and shifted fluid. The proposed model extrapolates well to systems with different temperatures, fluid densities, and shear forces as well as to systems with different wetting behaviors. These results demonstrate that entropy scaling can be generalized to inhomogeneous fluids using an appropriate combination of residual entropy profile and viscosity reference.