Title:	Hydrodynamics of smectic-C liquid crystals: Field and flow induced instabilities in confined geometries.
Authors:	Sukumaran, Sreejith Ranganath, G.S.
Issue Date:	May-1998
Publisher:	The American Physical Society
Citation:	Physical Review E, 1998, Vol.57, p5597-5608
Abstract:	Following the Ericksen-Leslie approach, we formulate a complete nonlinear macroscopic theory of the isothermal hydrodynamics of smectic-C liquid crystals. We assume an asymmetric stress tensor and incorporate the essential features of a hydrodynamic theory of a smectic phase, i.e., permeation and variations in layer spacing. Using Onsager’s reciprocity relations, we find that entropy production is described by 16 viscosity coefficients and a permeation constant associated with the dissipative dynamics of the layered system. We study the reorientation dynamics of the c vector under the destabilizing influence of an external field. We stress that permeation is important and that transverse flows along and normal to the layers exist. We have also studied certain instabilities that can arise in shear flows. As a consequence of permeation, in Poiseuille flow with the layers parallel to the plates, we find that the length of the inlet section can be very large being many times the lateral dimension. When the layers are perpendicular to the plates, an analog of the nematic Hall effect is shown to exist even in the absence of an aligning external field.
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/2289/1178
ISSN:	1550-2376 (online) 1539-3755
Alternative Location:	http://prola.aps.org/pdf/PRE/v57/i5/p5597_1
Copyright:	(1998) by the American Physical Society
Appears in Collections:	Research Papers (SCM)

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