Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are a valuable tool to characterize the microscopic mechanisms underlying friction. However, the lowest shear rate accessible by current MD methods is at least four orders of magnitude larger than those typically used in experiments. Using the transient-time correlation function, we show how MD simulations can be extended to study systems subjected to a realistic shear rate. We demonstrate the usefulness of this approach by studying the frictional response of a simple fluid confined to a film of about five molecular diameters.

• Received 13 June 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.72.172201