Luigi Vergori

Surface free energies for nematic shells

We propose a continuum model to describe the molecular alignment in thin nematic shells. By contrast with previous accounts, the two-dimensional free energy, aimed at describing the physics of thin films of nematics deposited on curved substrates, is not postulated, but it is deduced from the conventional three-dimensional theories of nematic liquid crystals. Both the director and the order-tensor theories are taken into account. The so-obtained surface energies exhibit extra terms compared to earlier models. These terms reflect the coupling of the shell extrinsic curvature with the nematic order parameters. As expected, the shape of the shell plays a key role in the equilibrium configurations of nematics coating it.

On anisotropic elasticity and questions concerning its Finite Element implementation

We give conditions on the strain–energy function of nonlinear anisotropic hyperelastic materials that ensure compatibility with the classical linear theories of anisotropic elasticity. We uncover the limitations associated with the volumetric–deviatoric separation of the strain–energy used, for example, in many Finite Element (FE) codes in that it does not fully represent the behavior of anisotropic materials in the linear regime. This limitation has important consequences. We show that, in the small deformation regime, a FE code based on the volumetric–deviatoric separation assumption predicts that a sphere made of a compressible anisotropic material deforms into another sphere under hydrostatic pressure loading, instead of the expected ellipsoid. For finite deformations, the commonly adopted assumption that fibres cannot support compression is incorrectly implemented in current FE codes and leads to the unphysical result that under hydrostatic tension a sphere of compressible anisotropic material deforms into a larger sphere.

Equilibrium of nematic vesicles

A variational scheme is proposed which allows the derivation of a concise and elegant formulation of the equilibrium equations for closed fluid membranes, endowed with a nematic microstructure. The nematic order is described by an in-plane nematic director and a degree of orientation, as customary in the theory of uniaxial nematics. The only constitutive ingredient in this scheme is a free-energy density which depends on the vesicle geometry and order parameters. The stress and the couple stress tensors related to this free-energy density are provided. As an application of the proposed scheme, a certain number of special theories are deduced: soap bubbles, lipid vesicles, chiral and achiral nematic membranes, and nematics on curved substrates.

Hydrodynamic theory for nematic shells: The interplay among curvature, flow, and alignment.

We derive the hydrodynamic equations for nematic liquid crystals lying on curved substrates. We invoke the Lagrange-Rayleigh variational principle to adapt the Ericksen-Leslie theory to two-dimensional nematics in which a degenerate anchoring of the molecules on the substrate is enforced. The only constitutive assumptions in this scheme concern the free-energy density, given by the two-dimensional Frank potential, and the density of dissipation which is required to satisfy appropriate invariance requirements. The resulting equations of motion couple the velocity field, the director alignment, and the curvature of the shell. To illustrate our findings, we consider the effect of a simple shear flow on the alignment of a nematic lying on a cylindrical shell.

Wrinkles and creases in the bending, unbending and eversion of soft sectors

We study what is clearly one of the most common modes of deformation found in nature, science and engineering, namely the large elastic bending of curved structures, as well as its inverse, unbending, which can be brought beyond complete straightening to turn into eversion. We find that the suggested mathematical solution to these problems always exists and is unique when the solid is modelled as a homogeneous, isotropic, incompressible hyperelastic material with a strain-energy satisfying the strong ellipticity condition. We also provide explicit asymptotic solutions for thin sectors. When the deformations are severe enough, the compressed side of the elastic material may buckle and wrinkles could then develop. We analyse, in detail, the onset of this instability for the Mooney–Rivlin strain energy, which covers the cases of the neo-Hookean model in exact nonlinear elasticity and of third-order elastic materials in weakly nonlinear elasticity. In particular, the associated theoretical and numerical treatment allows us to predict the number and wavelength of the wrinkles. Guided by experimental observations, we finally look at the development of creases, which we simulate through advanced finite-element computations. In some cases, the linearized analysis allows us to predict correctly the number and the wavelength of the creases, which turn out to occur only a few per cent of strain earlier than the wrinkles.

Old Problems Revisited from New Perspectives in Implicit Theories of Fluids

Three of the most studied problems in fluid dynamics are revisited within implicit theories of fluids. Specifically, the onset of convection, the determination of laminar flows and the motion of a fluid down an inclined plane are studied under the assumption that the Cauchy stress tensor and the rate-of-strain tensor are related through implicit constitutive equations. Particular attention is paid to fluids whose viscosities are pressure-dependent.