  Many-body dissipative particle dynamics (MDPD) is a mesoscale method capable
of reproducing liquid-vapour coexistence in a single simulation. Despite having
been introduced more than a decade ago, this method remains broadly unexplored
and, as a result, relatively unused for modelling of industrially important
soft matter systems. In this work, we systematically investigate the structure
and properties of an MDPD fluid. We show that, besides the liquid phase, the
MDPD potential can also yield a gas phase and a thermodynamically stable solid
phase with a bcc lattice, but lacking a proper stress-strain relation. For the
liquid phase, we determine the dependence of density and surface tension on the
interaction parameters, and devise a top-down parametrisation protocol for real
liquids.
