Thermodynamical consistent modeling and analysis of nematic liquid crystal flows

Abstract

The general Ericksen-Leslie model for the flow of nematic liquid crystals is reconsidered in the non-isothermal case aiming for thermodynamically consistent models. The non-isothermal simplified model is then investigated analytically. A fairly complete dynamic theory is developed by analyzing these systems as quasilinear parabolic evolution equations in an Lp − Lq-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.