RESUMEN

We consider a system modeling the flow of nematic liquid crystals with variable degrees of orientation. Although the set of constitutive equations involves many different parameters, the flow behavior is determined mostly by three nondimensional parameters, i.e., the Ericksen number, the Reynolds number, and the interface number. We establish a dissipative relation of the system in general domains. In the case of plane Poiseuille flow, we prove existence and regularity of solutions. Moreover, we discuss the stationary configurations with a large number of defects due to the large Ericksen number of the flow.

RESUMEN

Films and molds of nematic polymer materials are notorious for heterogeneity in the orientational distribution of the rigid rod or platelet macromolecules. Predictive tools for structure length scales generated by shear-dominated processing are vitally important: both during processing because of flow feedback phenomena such as shear thinning or thickening, and postprocessing since gradients in the rod or platelet ensemble translate to nonuniform composite properties and to residual stresses in the material. These issues motivate our analysis of two prototypes for planar shear processing: drag-driven Couette and pressure-driven Poiseuille flows. Hydrodynamic theories for high aspect ratio rod and platelet macromolecules in viscous solvents are well developed, which we apply in this paper to model the coupling between short-range excluded volume interactions, anisotropic distortional elasticity (unequal elasticity constants), wall anchoring conditions, and hydrodynamics. The goal of this paper is to generalize scaling properties of steady flow molecular structures in slow Couette flows with equal elasticity constants [M. G. Forest et al., J. Rheol., 48 (2004), pp. 175-192] in several ways: to contrast isotropic and anisotropic elasticity; to compare Couette versus Poiseuille flow; and to consider dynamics and stability of these steady states within the asymptotic model equations.