Thermodynamical Consistent Modeling and Analysis of Nematic Liquid Crystal Flows

The general Ericksen-Leslie system for the flow of nematic liquid crystals is reconsidered in the non-isothermal case aiming for thermodynamically consistent models. The non-isothermal model is then investigated analytically. A fairly complete dynamic theory is developed by analyzing these systems as quasilinear parabolic evolution equations in an $L^p-L^q$-setting. First, the existence of a unique, local strong solution is proved. It is then shown that this solution extends to a global strong solution provided the initial data are close to an equilibrium or the solution is eventually bounded in the natural norm of the underlying state space. In these cases, the solution converges exponentially to an equilibrium in the natural state manifold

Uniqueness of weak solutions for the general Ericksen-Leslie system with Ginzburg-Landau penalization in T^2

The Ericksen-Leslie system is a fundamental hydrodynamic model that describes the evolution of incompressible liquid crystal flows of nematic type. In this paper, we prove the uniqueness of global weak solutions to the general Ericksen-Leslie system with a Ginzburg-Landau type approximation in a two dimensional periodic domain. The proof is based on some delicate energy estimates for the difference of two weak solutions within a suitable functional framework that is less regular than the usual one at the natural energy level, combined with the Osgood lemma involving a specific double-logarithmic type modulus of continuity. We overcome the essential mathematical difficulties arising from those highly nonlinear terms in the Leslie stress tensor and in particular, the lack of maximum principle for the director equation due to the stretching effect of the fluid on the director field. Our argument makes full use of the coupling structure as well as the dissipative nature of the system, and relies on some techniques from harmonic analysis and paradifferential calculus in the periodic setting

On a thermodynamically consistent model for magnetoviscoelastic fluids in 3D

We introduce a system of equations that models a non-isothermal magnetoviscoelastic fluid. We show that the model is thermodynamically consistent, and that the critical points of the entropy functional with prescribed energy correspond exactly with the equilibria of the system. The system is investigated in the framework of quasilinear parabolic systems and shown to be locally well-posed in an $L_p$-setting. Furthermore, we prove that constant equilibria are normally stable. In particular, we show that solutions that start close to a constant equilibrium exist globally and converge exponentially fast to a (possibly different) constant equilibrium. Finally, we establish that the negative entropy serves as a strict Lyapunov functional and we then show that every solution that is eventually bounded in the topology of the natural state space exists globally and converges to the set of equilibria.Comment: 36 page