Influence of Electric Fields and Boundary Conditions on the Flow Properties of Nematic-Filled Cells and Capillaries

From a rheological point of view, nematic liquid crystals are interesting because they exhibit unique flow properties. Although some of these properties have been known for a long time, they continue to attract the attention and interest of the scientists. As a result, a large amount of theoretical, numerical, and experimental work has been produced in recent years. In particular, a number of publications treat the behavior of nematic liquid crystals in shear and Poiseuille flow fields (Denniston, Orlandini, and Yeomans 2001, Vicente Alonso, Wheeler, and Sluckin 2003, Marenduzzo, Orlandini, and Yeomans 2003, Marenduzzo, Orlandini, and Yeomans 2004, Guillen and Mendoza 2007, Medina and Mendoza 2008, Mendoza, Corella-Madueno, and Reyes 2008, Reyes, Corella-Madueno, and Mendoza 2008, Zakharov and Vakulenko, 2010).