Liquid Crystals. Iam-Choon Khoo
so there are really five independent coefficients.
In the next few sections, we will study exemplary cases of director axis orientation and deformation, and we will show how these Leslie coefficients are related to other commonly used viscosity coefficients.
Figure 3.11. Sheer flow in the presence of an applied magnetic field.
3.5.3. Flows with Fixed Director Axis Orientation
Consider here the simplest case of flows in which the director axis orientation is held fixed. This may be achieved by a strong externally applied magnetic field (see Figure 3.11), where the magnetic field is along the direction
In terms of the orientation of the director axis, there are three distinct possibilities involving three corresponding viscosity coefficients:
1 η1: is parallel to the velocity gradient, that is, along the x‐axis (θ = 90°, ϕ = 0°).
2 η2: is parallel to the flow velocity, that is, along the z‐axis and lies in the shear plane x‐z (θ = 0°, ϕ = 0°).
3 η3: is perpendicular to the shear plane, that is, along the y‐axis (θ = 0°, ϕ = 90°).
These three configurations have been investigated by Miesowicz [19], and the ηs are known as Miesowicz coefficients. In the original paper, as well as in the treatment by deGennes [3], the definitions of η1 and η3 are interchanged. In deGennes notation, in terms of ηa, ηb, and ηc, we have ηa = η1, ηb = η2, and ηc = η3. The notation used here is attributed to Helfrich [6], which is now the conventional one.
To obtain the relations between η1,2,3 and the Leslie coefficients α1,2,…,6, one could evaluate the stress tensor σαβ and the shear rate Aαβ for various director orientations and flow and velocity gradient directions. From these considerations, the following relationships are obtained [3]:
(3.62)
In the shear plane x‐z, the general effective viscosity coefficient is actually more correctly expressed in the form [20]
(3.63)
in order to account for angular velocity gradients. The coefficient η1,2 is related to the Leslie coefficient α1 by
(3.64)
3.5.4. Flows with Director Axis Reorientation
The preceding section deals with the case where the director axis is fixed during fluid flow. In more general situations, director axis reorientation often accompanies fluid flows and vice versa. Taking into account the moment of inertia I and the torque
The viscous torque
Here
(3.67)
where