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Modelling of nematic liquid crystal display devices

T. J. Spencer·C. M. Care
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Abstract

A lattice Boltzmann scheme is presented which recovers the dynamics of nematic and chiral liquid crystals; the method essentially gives solutions to the Qian-Sheng equations for the evolution of the velocity and tensor order-parameter fields. The resulting algorithm is able to include five independent Leslie viscosities, a Landau-deGennes free energy which introduces three or more elastic constants, a temperature dependent order parameter, surface anchoring and viscosity coefficients, flexo-electric and order electricity and chirality. When combined with a solver for the Maxwell equations associated with the electric field, the algorithm is able to provide a full 'device solver' for a liquid crystal display. Coupled lattice Boltzmann schemes are used to capture the evolution of the fast momentum and slow director motions in a computationally efficient way. The method is shown to give results in close agreement with analytical results for a number of validating examples. The use of the method is illustrated through the simulation of the motion of defects in a zenithal bistable liquid crystal device.

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T. J. Spencer, C. M. Care. 2006-02-17. Modelling of nematic liquid crystal display devices. https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0602421

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