Berlin 2005 – scientific programme

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DY: Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 34: Poster

DY 34.4: Poster

Monday, March 7, 2005, 15:30–18:00, Poster TU D

Dynamics of liquid crystals with an improved Landau-de Gennes potential — •Sebastian Heidenreich, Patrick Ilg, and Siegfried Hess — Institut für Theoretische Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, D-10623, Germany

In liquid crystals, the dynamic of orientation can be described by a constituive equation of the alignment tensor a within the framework of irreversible thermodynamics [1] where the time evolution of a is determined by the velocity gradient and the derivative of the standard Landau-de Gennes potential.
Here, we propose an improved Landau-de Gennes potential based on Onsager’s excluded volume potential of rigid rods and the generating momentum equation found by Öttinger et. al [2].
In contrast to the standard Landau-de Gennes potential our potential has the advantage to restrict the orientation to physically admissible values.
The effect of the improved Landau-de Gennes potential on the dynamical behavior and viscous properties is investigated.
[1] S. Hess, Z. f. Naturforsch. 30a, 728 (1975); S. Hess and I. Pardowitz, Z. f. Naturforsch. 36a, 554 (1981); C. Pereira Borgmeyer and S. Hess, J. Non-Equilib. Thermodyn. 20, 359 (1995)
[2] P. Ilg, V. Karlin and H. C. Öttinger, Phys. Rev. E 60, 5783 (1999)