Related papers: Numerical Study of Liquid Crystal Elastomer Using …
Liquid crystal elastomers are cross-linked polymer networks covalently bonded with liquid crystal mesogens. In the nematic phase, due to strong coupling between mechanical strain and orientational order, these materials display…
Liquid crystal elastomers represent a novel class of programmable shape-transforming materials whose shape change trajectory is encoded in the material's nematic director field. Using three-dimensional nonlinear finite element…
We model within the framework of finite elasticity two inherent instabilities observed in liquid crystal elastomers under uniaxial tension. First is necking which occurs when a material sample suddenly elongates more in a small region where…
In this paper, we speculate on a possible application of Liquid Crystal Elastomers to the field of soft robotics. In particular, we study a concept for limbless locomotion that is amenable to miniaturisation. For this purpose, we formulate…
We develop a novel finite element method for a phase field model of nematic liquid crystal droplets. The continuous model considers a free energy comprised of three components: the Ericksen's energy for liquid crystals, the Cahn-Hilliard…
We analyze the application to elastodynamic problems of mixed finite element methods for elasticity with weak symmetry. Our approach leads to a semidiscrete method which consists of a system of ordinary differential equations without…
We propose a finite element method for the numerical simulation of electroconvection of thin liquid crystals. The liquid is located in between two concentric circular electrodes which are either assumed to be of infinite height or slim.…
Liquid crystal elastomers realize a fascinating new form of soft matter that is a composite of a conventional crosslinked polymer gel (rubber) and a liquid crystal. These {\em solid} liquid crystal amalgams, quite similarly to their…
We consider the simplest one-constant model, put forward by J. Ericksen, for nematic liquid crystals with variable degree of orientation. The equilibrium state is described by a director field $\mathbf{n}$ and its degree of orientation $s$,…
We model polydomain liquid-crystal elastomers by extending the neo-classical soft and semi-soft free energies used successfully to describe monodomain samples. We show that there is a significant difference between polydomains cross-linked…
We consider a one-dimensional variational problem arising in connection with a model for cholesteric liquid crystals. The principal feature of our study is the assumption that the twist deformation of the nematic director incurs much higher…
We introduce a nonlinear, one-dimensional bending-twisting model for an inextensible bi-rod that is composed of a nematic liquid crystal elastomer. The model combines an elastic energy that is quadratic in curvature and torsion with a…
Liquid crystal elastomers are rubbery solids that couple liquid crystalline order and deformation. This coupling leads to properties that are attractive for a number of applications in soft robotics and energy absorption. This paper is…
This paper outlines an energy-minimization finite-element approach to the computational modeling of equilibrium configurations for nematic liquid crystals under free elastic effects. The method targets minimization of the system free energy…
Nematic elastomers and glasses deform spontaneously when subjected to temperature changes. This property can be exploited in the design of heterogeneously patterned thin sheets that deform into a non-trivial shape when heated or cooled. In…
We design a finite element method (FEM) for a membrane model of liquid crystal polymer networks (LCNs). This model consists of a minimization problem of a non-convex stretching energy. We discuss properties of this energy functional such as…
Liquid crystal elastomers are cross-linked elastomer networks with liquid crystal mesogens incorporated into the main or side chain. Polydomain liquid crystalline (nematic) elastomers exhibit unusual mechanical properties like soft…
We consider a class of liquid crystal free-boundary problems for which both the equilibrium shape and internal configuration of a system must simultaneously be determined, for example in films with air- or fluid-liquid crystal interfaces…
In arXiv:1906.09232v2, Golovaty et al. present a $Q$-tensor model for liquid crystal dynamics which reduces to the well-known Oseen-Frank director field model in uniaxial states. We study a closely related model and present an energy stable…
We introduce and analyze a new mixed finite element method with reduced symmetry for the standard linear model in viscoelasticity. Following a previous approach employed for linear elastodynamics, the present problem is formulated as a…