Depletion Interactions in a Cylindric Pipeline with a Small Shape Change

Stressed by external forces, it is possible for a cylindric pipeline to change into an elliptic pipeline. To expose the effect of small shape change of the pipeline on the depletion interactions, both the depletion potentials and depletion forces in the hard sphere systems confined by a cylindric pipeline or by an elliptic pipeline are studied by Monte Carlo simulations. The numerical results show that the depletion interactions are strongly affected by the small change of the shape of the pipeline in a way. Furthermore, it is also found that the depletion interactions will be strengthened if the short axis of the elliptic pipeline is decreased.