Abstract
The flow of a nematic liquid crystal in a Hele-Shaw cell with an electrically controlled viscous obstruction is investigated using both a theoretical model and physical experiments. The viscous obstruction is created by temporarily electrically altering the viscosity of the nematic in a region of the cell across which an electric field is applied. The theoretical model is validated experimentally for a circular cylindrical obstruction, demonstrating user-controlled flow manipulation of an anisotropic liquid within a heterogeneous single-phase microfluidic device.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | R1 |
| Journal | Journal of Fluid Mechanics |
| Volume | 996 |
| Early online date | 30 Sept 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 10 Oct 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author(s), 2024.
Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11173025.Funding
This work was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) via EPSRC research grants EP/T012986/1 and EP/T012501/2.
Keywords
- Hele-Shaw flows
- liquid crystals
- lubrication theory
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Mechanics of Materials
- Mechanical Engineering
- Applied Mathematics