Mesoscopic theory of liquid crystals
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W. Muschik
Abstract
Liquid crystals of uniaxial and biaxial molecules are considered in the framework of the mesoscopic description which is a general tool of continuum theory. A mesoscopic theory introduces the fields beyond hydrodynamics as additional variables of a configuration space, called mesoscopic space, on which the fields appearing in balances are defined. Besides the mesoscopic space, a mesoscopic distribution function is introduced which describes the distribution of the additional variables at each time and position. It is demonstrated, how the mesoscopic theory can be applied to liquid crystals, and how the Ericksen-Leslie theory and the alignment tensor theory of liquid crystals fit into the mesoscopic framework.
Copyright © 2004 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
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- Ilya Priogogine and the classical thermodynamics of irreversible processes
- Can a quantitative simulation of an Otto engine be accurately rendered by a simple Novikov model with heat leak?
- Non-equilibrium sound propagation using the orientation-free discrete kinetic theory
- On the thermodynamic conditions at moving phase-transition fronts in thermoelastic solids
- Optimal paths for minimizing lost available work during usual finite-time heat transfer processes
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Articles in the same Issue
- Ilya Priogogine and the classical thermodynamics of irreversible processes
- Can a quantitative simulation of an Otto engine be accurately rendered by a simple Novikov model with heat leak?
- Non-equilibrium sound propagation using the orientation-free discrete kinetic theory
- On the thermodynamic conditions at moving phase-transition fronts in thermoelastic solids
- Optimal paths for minimizing lost available work during usual finite-time heat transfer processes
- Mesoscopic theory of liquid crystals
