diff --git a/src/KOKKOS/atom_vec_kokkos.cpp b/src/KOKKOS/atom_vec_kokkos.cpp
index 2cb70a8c87..779e977b09 100644
--- a/src/KOKKOS/atom_vec_kokkos.cpp
+++ b/src/KOKKOS/atom_vec_kokkos.cpp
@@ -19,8 +19,6 @@
 #include "error.h"
 #include "domain.h"
 
-#define DELTA 10 // much smaller than atom_vec.cpp
-
 using namespace LAMMPS_NS;
 
 /* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- */
@@ -35,10 +33,13 @@ AtomVecKokkos::AtomVecKokkos(LAMMPS *lmp) : AtomVec(lmp)
   no_border_vel_flag = 1;
 }
 
+static constexpr bigint DELTA=10; // much smaller than DELTA in atom_vec.cpp
+
 /* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    roundup N so it is a multiple of DELTA
    error if N exceeds 32-bit int, since will be used as arg to grow()
    overload needed because Kokkos uses a smaller DELTA than in atom_vec.cpp
+   and an exponential instead of a linear growth
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
 bigint AtomVecKokkos::roundup(bigint n)
diff --git a/src/atom_vec.cpp b/src/atom_vec.cpp
index e464d31b77..4406ac5f23 100644
--- a/src/atom_vec.cpp
+++ b/src/atom_vec.cpp
@@ -29,9 +29,6 @@
 using namespace LAMMPS_NS;
 using namespace MathConst;
 
-#define DELTA 16384
-#define DELTA_BONUS 8192
-
 /* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
 AtomVec::AtomVec(LAMMPS *lmp) : Pointers(lmp)
@@ -188,6 +185,8 @@ void AtomVec::init()
     error->all(FLERR,"KOKKOS package requires a kokkos enabled atom_style");
 }
 
+static constexpr bigint DELTA=16384;
+
 /* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    roundup N so it is a multiple of DELTA
    error if N exceeds 32-bit int, since will be used as arg to grow()
@@ -211,6 +210,8 @@ void AtomVec::grow_nmax()
   nmax += DELTA;
 }
 
+static constexpr bigint DELTA_BONUS=8192;
+
 /* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    grow nmax_bonus so it is a multiple of DELTA_BONUS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- */