Supercritical bifurcations in simple shear flow of a non-aligning nematic: Reactive parameter and director anchoring effects (Q688005)

Nonlinear numerical analysis of the Leslie-Ericksen equations for transient and steady rectilinear simple shear flows is presented for a typical non-aligning rigid-rod low molecular weight nematic. A computationally efficient and accurate form of the torque balance, gyroscopic torque balance, is formulated and implemented. A series of experimentally measured material constant sets is used to investigate the effect of the reactive parameter on the three-dimensional orientation field. Stable steady state solutions for both parallel and homeotropic orientation anchorings are obtained. The exchange of stability in the orientation and velocity fields is described as a supercritical bifurcation.