Numerical Simulation of Flows of Liquid Crystalline Polymers through Parallel Plates Containing a Cylinder

抄録

Flows through parallel plates containing a cylinder are numerically calculated for nematic liquid crystalline polymers using a simplified model of the Leslie-Ericksen theory. A tensor expression for the orientation of the director is used in the basic equations in order to avoid the difficulty in calculation due to the tumbling of the director. The orientation of the director is affected by the contraction and expansion flows, and tumbling occurs. An area where the molecule aligns in the direction of the flow exists behind the cylinder. It extends downstream as the parameter λ approaches the value one. The flow field does not change significantly from that of Newtonian fluids.