2003/12/04 by Colin Denniston, C. Denniston, D. Marenduzzo +9 · 1 citation
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Lattice Boltzmann Simulation Studies #Liquid Crystal Research Advancements #Micro and Nano Robotics #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0312123
12 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2003/12/04 · openalex publication_date 2003/12/04 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We describe a lattice Boltzmann algorithm to simulate liquid crystal hydrodynamics in three dimensions. The equations of motion are written in terms of a tensor order parameter. This allows both the isotropic and the nematic phases to be considered. Backflow effects and the hydrodynamics of topological defects are naturally included in the simulations, as are viscoelastic effects such as shear-thinning and shear-banding. We describe the implementation of velocity boundary conditions and show that the algorithm can be used to describe optical bounce in twisted nematic devices and secondary flow in sheared nematics with an imposed twist.