On the minimum of extended dissipation in viscous nematodynamics

This paper develops the variational principle of minimum extended dissipation for slow (low Reynolds number) flows of nematic liquids as described by the five parametric Leslie–Ericksen–Parodi (LEP) constitutive equations. It is shown that the Eulers equations for minimizer of the extended dissipative functional are the Stokes equations for the LEP fluid. When the molecular (including magnetic) field is absent, the extended dissipative functional coincides with the true dissipative functional, whose Euler equations are the Stokes equations for the Ericksen fluid.     

Theory of interfacial dynamics of nematic polymers

 The interfacial momentum and torque balance equations for deforming interfaces between nematic polymers and isotropic viscous fluids are derived and analyzed with respect to shape selection and interfacial nematic ordering. It is found that the interfacial momentum balance equation for nematic interfaces involves bending forces that act normal to the interface, and that interfacial pressure jumps may exist even for planar surfaces. In addition tangential forces on nematic interfaces arise in the presence of surface gradients of the tensor order parameter. The torque balance equation shows that couple stress jumps are balanced by the surface molecular field. The interfacial balance equations are shown to be coupled such that nematic ordering depends on shape and vice versa. The governing dimensionless numbers for deforming nematic polymer interfaces are identified and the limiting regimes are discussed in reference to related experimental data. It is found that the ratio of Frank elasticity to surface anchoring controls whether the surface tensor order parameter deviates from its preferred equilibrium value. Whether the shape is affected, depends on the relative magnitudes of the isotropic surface tension, Frank bulk elasticity, and anchoring energy, and capillary number. Received: 16 April 1999/Accepted: 19 August 1999     

The role of divergent terms in the Frank energy of nematic liquid crystals

The effect of divergent terms in the Frank orientation energy of nematic liquid crystals on the equilibrium state of the director field is studied. Such terms have no effect on the equations of motion or on the equilibrium of the medium under consideration; however, they should be taken into account in the derivation of boundary conditions. It is shown that, in the case of boundary perturbations or in the case of polar orientation angle perturbations, the divergent terms can be considered as a surface energy for the azimuth angle (this energy is similar to the Rapini-Papoular energy). In addition, these terms may cause a deviation of the director in the plane parallel to the boundary. The equilibrium problem for a nematic liquid crystal is considered as an example in the case of small periodic boundary perturbations.     

Transition flow of a fibrous suspension in a pipe as the flow of an anisotropic fluid

The transition flow is considered of a fibrous suspension in a pipe. The flow region consists of two subregions: at the center of the flow a plug formed by interwoven fibers and fluid moves as a rigid body; between the solid wall and the plug is a boundary layer in which the suspension is a mixture of the liquid phase and fibers separated from the plug [1–3]. In the boundary region the suspension is simulated as an anisotropic Ericksen—Leslie fluid [4, 5] which satisfies certain additional conditions. Equations are obtained for the velocity profile and drag coefficient of the pipe, which are both qualitatively and quantitatively in good agreement with the experimental results [6–8]. Within the framework of the model, a mechanism is found for reducing the drag in the flow of a fibrous suspension as compared to the drag of its liquid phase.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 91–98, September–October, 1985.     

Reduction of the Navier-Stokes equations to nonlinear chains of cascade type

The Fourier transformation of the Navier-Stokes equations is considered. Examination of the contributions of the regions of summation leads to a chain of equations that simulate the transfer of energy between perturbations of different scales. The perturbations of a given scale are described by two scalar quantities, which correspond to the projections of the velocity field of an incompressible fluid onto directions orthogonal to the wave vectors. The qualitative and numerical investigations lead to a time-averaged Kolmogorov energy spectrum in the inertial interval.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Shidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 26–35, January–February, 1980.I thank A. M. Obukhov for helpful discussions.     

Curvature effects on the surface viscosity of nematic liquid crystals

We analyse the flow of a nematic liquid crystal close to a cylindrical surface. As a first result, we show that it is not possible to decouple the motion equations for the director and the macroscopic velocity. Nevertheless, we derive an expression for an effective viscosity, which can be used in the dynamic boundary condition linking the time derivative and the gradient of the director angle on the surface. The effective viscosity so obtained may be greater or smaller than its planar counterpart, depending on both the concavity of the surface and the sign of the Leslie coefficients α₂ and α₃. In particular, in materials that align in shear, the correction to the surface viscosity changes sign depending on whether the angle between the director and the surface normal exceeds or not a critical value.     

Mechanical model for fiber-laden membranes

An integrated mechanical model for fiber-laden membranes is presented and representative predictions of relevance to cellulose ordering and orientation in the plant cell wall are presented. The model describes nematic liquid crystalline self-assembly of rigid fibers on an arbitrarily curved fluid membrane. The mechanics of the fluid membrane is described by the Helfrich bending-torsion model, the fiber self-assembly is described by the 2D Landau-de Gennes quadrupolar Q-tensor order parameter model, and the fiber-membrane interactions (inspired by an extension of the 2D Maier-Saupe model to curved surfaces) include competing curvo-philic (curvature-seeking) and curvo-phobic (curvature-avoiding) effects. Analysis of the free energy reveals three fiber orientation regimes: (a) along the major curvature, (b) along the minor curvature, (c) away from the principal curvatures, according to the competing curvo-philic and curvo-phobic interactions. The derived shape equation (normal stress balance) now includes curvature-nematic ordering contributions, with both bending and torsion renormalizations. Integration of the shape and nematic order equations gives a complete model whose solution describes the coupled membrane shape/fiber order state. Applications to cylindrical membranes, relevant to the plant cell wall, shows how growth decreases the fiber order parameter and moves the fibers’ director from the axial direction towards the azimuthal orientation, eventually leading to a state of stress predicted by pure membranes. The ubiquitous 54.7° cellulose fibril orientation with respect to the long axis in a cylindrical plant cell wall is shown to be predicted by the preset model when the ratio of curvo-phobic and curvo-philic interactions is in the range of the cylinder radius.     

Stationary Shear Flows of Nematic Liquid Crystals: A Comprehensive Study via Ericksen–Leslie Model

Journal of Dynamics and Differential Equations - We apply the Ericksen–Leslie dynamic model to investigate stationary solutions of planar shear flows for nematic liquid crystals. Nematic...     

A numerical method for solving the dynamic three-dimensional Ericksen–Leslie equations for nematic liquid crystals subject to a strong magnetic field

A finite difference technique, based on a projection method, is developed for solving the dynamic three-dimensional Ericksen–Leslie equations for nematic liquid crystals subject to a strong magnetic field. The governing equations in this situation are derived using primitive variables and are solved using the ideas behind the GENSMAC methodology (Tomé and McKee [32]; Tomé et al. [34]). The resulting numerical technique is then validated by comparing the numerical solution against an analytic solution for steady three-dimensional flow between two-parallel plates subject to a strong magnetic field. The validated code is then employed to solve channel flow for which there is no analytic solution.     

Transitions in Poiseuille flow of nematic liquid crystal

Recent experiments by Sengupta et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 2013) [9] revealed interesting transitions that can occur in flow of nematic liquid crystal under carefully controlled conditions within a long microfluidic channel of width much larger than height, and homeotropic anchoring at the walls. At low flow rates the director field of the nematic adopts a configuration that is dominated by the surface anchoring, being nearly parallel to the channel height direction over most of the cross-section; but at high flow rates there is a transition to a flow-dominated state, where the director configuration at the channel centerline is aligned with the flow (perpendicular to the channel height direction). We analyze simple channel-flow solutions to the Leslie–Ericksen model for nematics. We demonstrate that two solutions exist, at all flow rates, but that there is a transition between the elastic free energies of these solutions: the anchoring-dominated solution has the lowest energy at low flow rates, and the flow-dominated solution has lowest energy at high flow rates.     

Dynamics of shear aligning of nematic liquid crystal monodomains

The equations of linear and angular momentum for nematic liquid crystals have been described with Ericksen's transversely isotropic fluid [TIF] model and solved for start-up of shear flow at constant rate and varying initial alignment conditions. An analytical solution for the rotation provides predictions of the nematic director which closely agree with experimental results of Boudreau et al. (1999), supporting the validity of Ericksen's TIF model. The solution is limited to flows where the effects of director gradients are negligible. Received: 13 September 1999/Accepted: 24 January 2000     

Large-scale turbulence in a thin layer of nonisothermal rotating fluid

The dynamics of large-scale nonisothermal turbulence in a thin rotating layer of fluid are investigated. An hierarchical model, obtained by averaging the initial Boussinesq equations with respect to the vertical coordinates and subsequently projecting the two-dimensional equations onto a basis consisting of a system of axisymmetric spiral vortices of progressively decreasing scale, is proposed. It is shown that the presence of horizontal temperature inhomogeneities leads to a considerable increase in the turbulence decay time.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 48–55, July–August, 1988.     

Unsteady flows of an inhomogeneous incompressible viscous fluid

This paper deals with a theoretical analysis of the transfer of reactive impurities by open and filtration flows of an incompressible viscous fluid. The first section of the paper studies the model of an inhomogeneous incompressible viscous fluid, which is widely used in meteorology and oceanology, with additional allowance for the drag of the magnetic field or porous medium. Another object of research in this paper is the model of filtration of an inhomogeneous incompressible fluid in porous media proposed by V. N. Monakhov (1977) (Section 2). In both models, hydrodynamic flows determine the motion of the mixture as a whole and the temperature and concentration distributions of the components of an inhomogeneous fluid are described by a common nonlinear system of equations of diffusive heat and mass transfer.Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 46, No. 2, pp. 44–51, March–April, 2005.     

Nonisothermal flow of a viscous incompressible fluid in a two-dimensional diffuser

The velocity and temperature distributions in a viscous incompressible fluid flow in a two-dimensional diffuser are analyzed. Fully developed flow is considered, i.e., the influence of the entrant section is disregarded. It is assumed that the diffuser walls are maintained at a temperature depending on the polar radius. The dynamic viscosity is considered to be an exponential function of the temperature. The problem is reduced to the solution of a system of ordinary differential equations, which is solved by the method of successive approximations. The convergence of the iterative scheme is proved.Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, No. 4, pp. 40–48, July–August, 1973.The author is indebted to L.A. Galin and N. N. Gvozdkov for assistance with the study.     

On the General Ericksen–Leslie System: Parodi’s Relation, Well-Posedness and Stability

In this paper we investigate the role of Parodi’s relation in the well-posedness and stability of the general Ericksen–Leslie system modeling nematic liquid crystal flows. First, we give a formal physical derivation of the Ericksen–Leslie system through an appropriate energy variational approach under Parodi’s relation, in which we can distinguish the conservative/dissipative parts of the induced elastic stress. Next, we prove global well-posedness and long-time behavior of the Ericksen–Leslie system under the assumption that the viscosity μ ₄ is sufficiently large. Finally, under Parodi’s relation, we show the global well-posedness and Lyapunov stability for the Ericksen–Leslie system near local energy minimizers. The connection between Parodi’s relation and linear stability of the Ericksen–Leslie system is also discussed.     

Optimization of body shape at small reynolds numbers

The problem of the optimization of the shape of a body in a stream of viscous liquid or gas was treated in [1–5]. The necessary conditions for a body to offer minimum resistance to the flow of a viscous gas past it were derived in [1], The necessary optimality conditions when the motion of the fluid is described by the approximate Stokes equations were derived in [2], The shape of a body of minimum resistance was found numerically in [3] in the Stokes approximation. The optimality conditions when the motion of the fluid is described by the Navier—Stokes equations were derived in [4, 5], and in [4] these conditions were extended to the case of a fluid whose motion is described in the boundary-layer approximation. The necessary optimality conditions when the motion of the fluid is described by the approximate Oseen equations were derived in [5] and an asymptotic analysis of the behavior of the optimum shape near the critical points was performed for arbitrary Reynolds numbers.Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, No. 1, pp, 87–93, January–February, 1978.     

Quasi-three-dimensional calculation of flow in blade passages of turbines

The flow in turbomachines is currently calculated either on the basis of a single successive solution of an axisymmetric problem (see, for example, [1-A]) and the problem of flow past cascades of blades in a layer of variable thickness [1, 5], or by solution of a quasi-three-dimensional problem [6–8], or on the basis of three-dimensional models of the motion [9–11]. In this paper, we derive equations of a three-dimensional model of the flow of an ideal incompressible fluid for an arbitrary curvilinear system of coordinates based on averaging the equations of motion in the Gromek–Lamb form in the azimuthal direction; the pulsation terms are taken into account in the equations of the quasi-three-dimensional motion. An algorithm for numerical solution of the problem is described. The results of calculations are given and compared with experimental data for flows in the blade passages of an axial pump and a rotating-blade turbine. The obtained results are analyzed.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 69–76, March–April, 1991.I thank A. I. Kuzin and A. V. Gol'din for supplying the results of the experimental investigations.     

Dynamic interaction of an oscillating sphere and an elastic cylindrical shell filled with a fluid and immersed in an elastic medium

The paper studies the interaction of a harmonically oscillating spherical body and a thin elastic cylindrical shell filled with a perfect compressible fluid and immersed in an infinite elastic medium. The geometrical center of the sphere is located on the cylinder axis. The acoustic approximation, the theory of thin elastic shells based on the Kirchhoff—Love hypotheses, and the Lamé equations are used to model the motion of the fluid, shell, and medium, respectively. The solution method is based on the possibility of representing partial solutions of the Helmholtz equations written in cylindrical coordinates in terms of partial solutions written in spherical coordinates, and vice versa. Satisfying the boundary conditions at the shell—medium and shell—fluid interfaces and at the spherical surface produces an infinite system of algebraic equations with coefficients in the form of improper integrals of cylindrical functions. This system is solved by the reduction method. The behavior of the hydroelastic system is analyzed against the frequency of forced oscillations.Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 40, No. 9, pp. 75–86, September 2004.     

Self-similar solutions of three-dimensional laminar magnetohydrodynamic boundary-layer equations

Self-similar solutions of three-dimensional boundary-layer equations of an incompressible fluid in ordinary hydrodynamics were considered in [1–3] et al. The present work looks for self-similar solutions of three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic boundary-layer equations.Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 10–17, July–August, 1968.