Second Order, linear and unconditionally energy stable schemes for a hydrodynamic model of Smectic-A Liquid Crystals

TL;DR

This paper introduces two second-order, linear, unconditionally energy stable numerical schemes for simulating a complex hydrodynamic model of Smectic-A liquid crystals, ensuring stability and accuracy in various flow conditions.

Contribution

The paper develops novel linear, second-order schemes using the Invariant Energy Quadratization method, with rigorous proofs of stability and well-posedness for a nonlinear liquid crystal model.

Findings

Schemes are unconditionally energy stable.

Numerical experiments confirm stability and accuracy.

Effective in simulating shear flow and magnetic field effects.

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the numerical approximations for a hydrodynamical model of smectic-A liquid crystals. The model, derived from the variational approach of the modified Oseen-Frank energy, is a highly nonlinear system that couples the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations and a constitutive equation for the layer variable. We develop two linear, second-order time-marching schemes based on the "Invariant Energy Quadratization" method for nonlinear terms in the constitutive equation, the projection method for the Navier-Stokes equations, and some subtle implicit-explicit treatments for the convective and stress terms. Moreover, we prove the well-posedness of the linear system and their unconditionally energy stabilities rigorously. Various numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the stability and the accuracy of the numerical schemes in simulating the dynamics under shear flow and the magnetic field.

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See pages 1-last of SmecticA_Aug_22.pdf