Force fields and molecular dynamics simulations

In this chapter a summary is given of the key ingredients necessary to carry out a molecular dynamics simulation, with particular emphasis on macromolecular systems. We discuss the form of the intermolecular potential for molecules composed of atoms, and of non-spherical sub-units, giving examples of how to compute the forces and torques. We also describe some of the MD algorithms in current use. Finally, we briefly refer to the factors that influence the size of systems, and length of runs, that are needed to calculate statistical properties.

arXiv, 2021

We provided a concise and self-contained introduction to molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, which involves a body of fundamentals needed for all MD users. The associated computer code, simulating a gas of classical particles interacting via the Lennard-Jones pairwise potential, was also written in Python programming language in both top-down and function-based designs.

Modeling and Simulation for Microelectronic Packaging Assembly, 2011

An introduction to classical molecular dynamics simulation is presented. In addition to some historical notes, an overview is given over particle models, integrators and different ensemble techniques. In the end, methods are presented for parallisation of short range interaction potentials. The efficiency and scalability of the algorithms on massively parallel computers is discussed with an extended version of Amdahl's law.

2010

The most important factor for quantitative results in molecular dynamics simulation are well developed force fields and models. In the present work, the development of new models and the usage of force fields from the literature in large systems are presented. Both tasks lead to time consuming simulations that require massively parallel high performance computing. In the present work, new

In this chapter a summary is given of the key ingredients necessary to carry out a molecular dynamics simulation, with particular emphasis on macromolecular systems. We discuss the form of the intermolecular potential for molecules composed of atoms, and of non-spherical sub-units, giving examples of how to compute the forces and torques. We also describe some of the MD algorithms in current use. Finally, we briefly refer to the factors that influence the size of systems, and length of runs, that are needed to calculate statistical properties.

Methods in Molecular Biology, 2012

In this chapter we review the basic features and the principles underlying molecular mechanics force fields commonly used in molecular modeling of biological macromolecules. We start by summarizing the historical background and then describe classical pairwise additive potential energy functions. We introduce the problem of the calculation of non-bonded interactions, of particular importance for charged macromolecules. Different parameterization philosophies are then presented, followed by a section on force field validation. We conclude with a brief overview on future perspectives for the development of classical force fields.

2003

We review recent progress in understanding fundamental processes in biology, chemistry and physics on the basis of ab initio and molecular dynamics simulations. The first step of the visual process involving the excitation of bovine rhodopsin after absorption of light is taken as an example from biochemistry to demonstrate what is nowadays possible to simulate numerically. The act of freezing of water has recently been simulated, for the first time successfully, by scientists from chemistry. Martensitic transformation in bulk and nanophase materials, a typical and hitherto not completely solved problem from solid state physics, is used to illustrate the achievements of multimillion atoms simulations. 9.1 Molecular Dynamics as a Multidisciplinary Numerical Tool Molecular dynamics (MD) has proved to be an optimum numerical recipe applicable to problems with many degrees of freedom from quite different fields of science. The knowledge of the energy or potential landscape of interacting...

Condensed Matter Physics, 2002

The method of molecular dynamics (MD) is a powerful tool for the prediction and investigation of various phenomena in physics, chemistry and biology. The development of efficient MD algorithms for integration of the equations of motion in classical and quantum many-body systems should therefore impact a lot of fields of fundamental research. In the present study it is shown that most of the existing MD integrators are far from being ideal and further significant improvement in the efficiency of the calculations can be reached. As a result, we propose new optimized algorithms which allow to reduce the numerical uncertainties to a minimum with the same overall computational costs. The optimization is performed within the well recognized decomposition approach and concerns the widely used symplectic Verlet-, Forest-Ruth-, Suzuki-as well as force-gradient-based schemes. It is concluded that the efficiency of the new algorithms can be achieved better with respect to the original integrators in factors from 3 to 1000 for orders from 2 to 12. This conclusion is confirmed in our MD simulations of a Lennard-Jones fluid for a particular case of second-and fourth-order integration schemes.

Lecture Notes in Physics, 2008

2006

Methods for performing large-scale parallel Molecular Dynamics(MD) simulations are investigated. A perspective on the field of parallel md simulations is given. Hardware and software aspects are characterized and the interplay between the two is briefly discussed. A method for performing ab initio md is described; the method essentially recomputes the interaction potential at each time-step. It has been tested on a system of liquid water by comparing results with other simulation methods and experimental results. Different strategies for parallelization are explored. Furthermore, data-parallel methods for short-range and long-range interactions on massively parallel platforms are described and compared. Next, a method for treating electrostatic interactions in md simulations is developed. It combines the traditional Ewald summation technique with the nonuniform Fast Fourier transform-ENUF for short. The method scales as O(N log N), where N is the number of charges in the system. ENUF has a behavior very similar to Ewald summation and can be easily and efficiently implemented in existing simulation programs. Finally, an outlook is given and some directions for further developments are suggested.