Hydrodynamics of nematic liquid crystals due to direct volume expansion

Hydrodynamics of planar nematic liquid crystal molecules under the influence of horizontal pressure gradient was studied, theoretically. The pressure gradient is due to nematic liquid crystal volume expansion which is a consequence of the incompressibility of the liquid. The resulting director reorientation which is due to coupling between the director orientation and fluidity of the liquid is calculated numerically for the hard and weak anchoring conditions at the cell walls.