Generalized lattice Boltzmann algorithm for the flow of a nematic liquid crystal with variable order parameter

A lattice Boltzmann (LB) scheme is described, which recovers the equations developed by Qian-Sheng for the hydrodynamics of a nematic liquid crystal with a tensor order parameter. The standard mesoscopic LB scalar density is generalized to a tensor quantity and the macroscopic momentum, density, and tensor order parameter are recovered from appropriate moments of this mesoscopic density. A single lattice Boltzmann equation is used with a direction dependent Bhatnagar, Gross, and Krook (BGK) collision term, with additional forcing terms to recover the antisymmetric terms in the stress tensor. A Chapman-Enskog analysis is presented, which demonstrates that the Qian-Sheng scheme is recovered, provided a lattice with sixth-order isotropy is used. The method is validated against analytical results for a number of cases including flow alignment of the order tensor and the Miesowicz viscosities in the presence of an aligning magnetic field. The algorithm accurately recovers the predicted changes in the order parameter in the presence of aligning flow, and magnetic, fields. Preliminary results are given for an extension of the method to model the interface between isotropic and nematic fluids.