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Thermally excited vortical flow in a microsized nematic cell
A. V. Zakharov,A. A. Vakulenko
RSC Advances Pub Date : 07/12/2012 00:00:00 , DOI:10.1039/C2RA00913G
Abstract

The theoretical description of the reorientational dynamics in a microized liquid crystal cell, where the nematic sample is confined by two horizontal and two lateral surfaces, under the influence of a temperature gradient ∇T is presented. We have carried out a numerical study of the system of hydrodynamic equations including director reorientation, fluid flow v, and the temperature redistribution across the cell under the influence of ∇T, when the sample is heated both from below and from above. Calculations show that, due to interaction between the gradient of the director field ∇[n with combining circumflex] and ∇T, the bidirectionally aligned liquid crystal (BALC) sample settles down to a stationary bi-vortical flow regime. As for a nematogenic material, we have considered the BALC cell to be occupied by 4-n-pentyl-4′-cyanobiphenyl, and investigated the effect of both ∇[n with combining circumflex] and ∇T on the magnitude and direction of v, for a number of hydrodynamic regimes.

Graphical abstract: Thermally excited vortical flow in a microsized nematic cell
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