van der Waals equation of state for a fluid in a nanopore.

A generalization of the van der Waals equation of state is presented for a confined fluid in a nanopore. The pressure in the fluid, confined in a narrow pore of infinite length, has tensorial character. From this hypothesis, the Helmholtz free energy is constructed and expressions for the axial and transversal components of the pressure tensor are obtained. The equations predict liquid-vapor equilibria, and a shift of the critical point with respect to that obtained from the van der Waals bulk equation. The results are in good agreement with recent experiments.