Steady low shear rate cholesteric flow normal to the helical axis

Abstract

Steady cholesteric flow at low shear rate normal to the helical axis is studied analytically for shear flow and plane Poiseuille flow on the basis of Leslie's continuum theory. For general asymmetric solutions the angle made by the director at the sample centre with the primary flow is found to profoundly affect the oscillations of the apparent viscosity with pitch for pitches of the order of the sample thickness. The velocity and orientation profiles are also found to change drastically. These considerations may be important in flow experiments on long pitch cholesterics.