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Periodical shear instability of nematics : symmetry considerations

A.-J. Koch, F. Rothen, J. Sadik, O. Schöri

To cite this version:

A.-J. Koch, F. Rothen, J. Sadik, O. Schöri. Periodical shear instability of nematics : symmetry considerations. Journal de Physique, 1985, 46 (5), pp.699-707. �10.1051/jphys:01985004605069900�.

�jpa-00210011�

(2)

Institut de Physique Expérimentale, Université de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne-Dorigny, Switzerland and O. Schöri

Institut de Physique Nucléaire, Université de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne-Dorigny, Switzerland

(Recu le 10 août 1984, révisé le 17 décembre, accepté le 1 S janvier 1985 )

Résumé. 2014 Nous montrons qu’à partir de considérations de symétrie, il est possible de prévoir la forme générale

des courbes de seuil séparant les différents régimes d’écoulement (uniforme, rouleaux, carrés) d’un nématique homéotrope cisaillé périodiquement. Le calcul est effectué dans le cas où la transition se ramène à une brisure de

symétrie caractérisée par l’apparition de rouleaux de direction 03C8. Nous déterminons également la variation de 03C8

au seuil lorsque l’on modifie le cisaillement

Abstract. 2014 We show that from symmetry considerations it is possible to predict the general shape of the threshold

curves fixing the boundaries between the different flow regimes (uniform, roll or square) occurring in a homeotropic

nematic submitted to a periodical shear. Calculations have been made for the case in which the transition is reduced to a break of symmetry characterized by the appearance of a roll set in the direction 03C8. The variation of 03C8 at threshold when the shear is modified has also been obtained

1. Introduction

The present paper is the

development

of earlier expe- rimental and theoretical works on a certain

hydro- dynamical instability

of nematics under shear

[1-7].

Very general

symmetry considerations about the system will be used in order to find relations between the parameters

characterizing

the various flow

regimes

at threshold.

The purpose of our work is to show that the funda- mental

symmetries

of the motion

equations

are rich

enough

to lead to not trivial

scaling

laws. Some of our

results have

already

been confirmed

by experi-

ments

[1-5]

or are consistent with

previous

theoretical calculations made with classical methods [6, 7].

1.1 NEMATIC LIQUID CRYSTALS. - As we do not use

detailed

nematodynamics,

we shall

only

recall three

points [8] :

1)

The nematics are formed

by elongated

molecules

which have a mean orientation direction described

by

a director n (n and - n are

equivalent).

This introduces

a

large anisotropy

in the nematics, which are to first

order

approximation,

characterized

by

five

indepen-

dent

viscosity

coefficients

(Xi (i

= 1, ...,

5).

2)

An

alignment elasticity

exists which is described

by

three

elasticity

constants

K1, K2, K3.

3)

In addition to the force and

incompressibility equations,

a

complete description

of nematics needs a

torque

equation

and the condition of

unitarity

of n

1. 2 EXPERIMENTAL FACTS. - We consider a nematic

homeotropically

retained between two

parallel glass plates, separated by

a distance d. A

periodic

movement

is

applied

to one of them

(Fig.

1). In the

Oxyz

frame,

the

displacement

of the

plate

reads :

Experimental

data are available for a few values of x., Xn, Ym, Yn and m, n.

They

have the

following

com-

mon

properties.

When the shear

amplitudes

are small, the

regime

is

« uniform » : in the nematic

sample,

the average orien- tation of molecules,

given by

the director n, is inde-

pendent

of the

position.

If we increase the shear

amplitude,

the flow becomes unstable : above a certain

threshold, convective rolls appear in the

liquid

cell;

Article published online by EDP Sciences and available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/jphys:01985004605069900

(3)

700

Fig. 1. - Experimental set up. A nematic sample is sand- wiched between two rectangular plates. The thickness of the cell is d. One imposes a displacement of the form x(t) = x. cos (mwt) + x" cos (nwt) and y(t) = y. sin (mwt) +

y. sin (scot) on the upper plate. The lower plate is fixed.

their orientation V is defined in

figure

3. If we continue

to increase the

amplitudes,

this roll

regime gives

way,

beyond

a second threshold, to a « square flow » here

everything

is as if two roll series were

superposed

almost at

right angle [1-4] (Fig.

2). Our purpose is to

use symmetry considerations in order to deduce the

shape

of the threshold curves for a vast

family

of

shears.

2. The symmetry method.

2.1 THE MAIN ASSUMPTIONS. - This work uses the

following assumptions

based on

experimental

data.

Al) We assume that the shear rate in the bulk of the

sample

is characterized

by

the ratios

Xi/d, yield (i

= m,

n).

This is the case if the border effects due to the strong

homeotropic anchoring

are

negligible

and

if the

penetration depth

of a shear wave is much

larger

than the

sample

thickness.

A2)

At threshold the shear rates

Xi/d, yid(i

= m,

n)

and the inverse P of the Ericksen number

(see § 2. 2)

are

supposed

to be small. This enables us to retain

only

the first terms in a

Taylor expansion

in

xdd, yJd and

P. The

experiments [1-5]

show that this

hypo-

thesis has a

large

domain of

validity.

A3)

We are interested

by

a threshold

equation relating

the various parameters

characterizing

an

experiment,

i.e. Xi’ yi

(i

= m,

n),

OJ and V

(1).

As

we do not seek numerical values but rather

scaling

laws, the

viscosity

and

elasticity

will appear

only

to

ensure the

right

dimension and will be labelled

by

a

and K

(a

and K can be any combination of

respectively

the five viscosities and the three elasticities,

having

the

corresponding dimension).

We shall not try to find any information on the roll geometry, so we do not intro- duce a parameter related to this property.

(1) We assume that P can be fixed arbitrarily by some experimental device. This is still an assumption because no

such experiment has yet been performed.

Fig. 2. - For a given sample at fixed temperature elliptically

sheared at frequency (u/2 n, and for xn = y. = 0, the threshold curves are relations between the shear amplitudes

Xm and y.. A gives the border between uniform and roll

regimes. Curve B delimits the boundary between roll and square regimes.

Fig. 3. - The direction of the roll series appearing at the instability threshold is characterized by the unit vector b. b

is defined as the normal to the roll axis direction. P is the

angle between b and an axis of the shear figure, arbitrarily

chosen to be the x-axis.

A4)

At threshold, the bifurcation, characterized for instance

by

the occurrence of a roll lattice, is

supposed

to be direct; thus we can linearize the equa- tions with respect to infinitesimal fluctuations.

It must be

emphasized

that these

assumptions

are

necessary to determine the characteristic parameters of the

problem (Al, A3)

and their relative orders of

magnitude

(A2,

A4).

2.2 INTRODUCTION TO THE THRESHOLD DETERMINA- TION. - To get threshold curves, the usual

procedure

described below

(points

I to

IV)

is inconvenient : it is very

long, requires

a lot of

simplifications

and leads

to poor numerical results

[6, 7].

We shall use a similar

way but we

disregard

all numerical information and

we avoid

solving

the

nematodynamic equations.

Let us

(4)

fundamental

frequency

w. This is

justified by

the

fact that the excitation has at least the

frequency

w.

Following

this, we can write

where 6a can be

bvx, bvy, 6v_,, bnx, 6ny, ðnz

or

6p;

b is an

unitary

vector in the

plane

(xy), as defined in

figure

3.

At this stage, the usual method consists in the

following operations :

I) The introduction of v = v. + bv, n = n’ + bn,

p = p- +

6p

in the

nematodynamic equations.

II)

The linearization with respect to the ð’s.

III) The choice of a

degree

of

precision;

the intro-

duction of a Fourier

development satisfying

the border

conditions with the desired accuracy and

neglecting

the

remaining

harmonics. This

procedure

uses the

standard method for this type of

problems,

i.e. iden- tifications of the

spatial

harmonics and time

averaging

over one

period

after

multiplication by

a suitable

factor.

IV)

The

requirement

that the system obtained has

a

non-vanishing

solution. Let us notice that this linear system has its second member

identically equal

to zero.

This is obvious for the torque,

incompressibility

and

unitarity equations.

For the force

equations,

the

second member is the time derivative of the

velocity;

as, at

point

III, it is necessary to take its time average

over one

period,

it is zero.

To get the

scaling

laws at threshold, we shall

replace

the

procedure

I to IV

by

the

following.

1)

We write a linear

homogeneous

system of two

equations

for two unknowns

6a";

we choose

bvkrs

and the

explicit

form of

M(S)

follow at

point

2. We

have to take a system of two

equations

for two un-

knowns : this is related to the fact that, as we shall see

in the

following,

the

symmetries

act in a

plane. 6v/md

and

fI(prol.

d) are the non-dimensional combination

occurring naturally

in the force

equations.

The

indexes (k, r, s) do not

play

any role in the computa- tion.

2)

We determine the essential parameters of the

problem. According

to AI-A3, the dimensionless

expressions

that one can form to characterize the system are the

following :

a)

The reduced

amplitudes xi/d, Yid

(i = m,

n)

of

the shear stress.

b)

A dimensionless number P built with m, the

frequency appearing

in

(2) (see [6] (the

inverse of P is also known as the Ericksen

number)) :

c)

The

angle

T between the direction of the vector b and the x-axis

(Fig. 3).

So, the set of dimensionless parameters characteris- tic of the

instability

will be

3)

We

develop M(S)

in a

Taylor expansion

around

xi/d

=

ydd

= P = 0 and in a Fourier

expansion

above ’P. This is allowed

by hypothesis

A2 and

by

the

spatial periodicity

of the rolls. So we get :

(5)

702

The upper limits in the sums above a,

P,

y,

ð, Jl

and k

must be chosen from case to case

according

to the

desired amount of information. We show in the next section that it is

possible

to

simplify

M(S)

by

use of

the

symmetries

of the system.

2. 3 THE SYMMETRIES. - When no shear is

applied,

the system is invariant under any rotation or reflec- tion in the

(xy)-plane.

What are the

symmetries

when

the nematic is submitted to a

periodical

shear ?

We have to find out among the

changes

of frame allow- ed

by

the

symmetries

of the

nematodynamic

equa- tions (i.e. rotations, inversions, change of m’s

sign

and their

combinations)

the one which

gives equiva-

lent border conditions, i.e.

equivalent

shear motion.

There are two ways to

satisfy

this

requirement.

2 . 3 .1 The geometrical symmetries in the

(xy)-plane (this

means the

plane

rotations and

inversions).

We have to retain

only

those

satisfying :

with

In this

expression,

r is a time

phase

and 8 takes the values ± 1

according

to whether

R((p, e)

includes an inversion

or not;

x;, y; (i

= m,

n),

cp and r have to be determined

by solving

this system.

2.3.2 The sign

change of co.

- Instead of

developing

the shear for the

trigonometric

functions with

positive frequency

to, one may do so with

negative frequency -

co. This can be written as :

The left side of this relation has been

expanded

over

positive

and the

right

part over

negative frequencies. By

use of

trigonometric

function

properties,

the

sign

of w has been put in front of the

right

member.

The most

general

symmetry will be a combination of both

preceding

cases. This means :

il takes the value ± 1,

according

to the selected

sign

of the

frequency.

Since

(6)

has to be valid for any time t,

the identification of the coefficients in front of cos

(kmt)

and sin

(kmt) (k

= m,

n)

leads to a system for

x,., xm Y’, Y’

i and cp whose solutions

give

all

possible symmetries

for the considered shear. P’ is

equal

to tIP

(since

P -

l/ro)

and ’P’ is deduced from the transformation of the vector b

(see Fig. 3)

under the rotation

R(cp, s q) :

Y’ =

B q(T

+

’P).

In the

following,

we shall write S’ for the transformed parameters

After a transformation like

(6),

the system

(3)

becomes

Comparing (3)

and

(7),

one finds

A careful look at the

symmetries existing

under the shear stress

(1)

shows that, for the most

general

choice of

(6)

Applying

these

symmetries

to

equations (8,

5)

one gets the reduced form of the coefficients Muv

(their

detailed form and an

example

of calculation is

given

in

Appendix).

The threshold is obtained

by putting

det

M S

= 0, in order to get a

non-vanishing

solution of the linear

homogeneous

system

(3).

3. Thresholds for some

special

shears.

Since the

complete

threshold is rather cumbersome,

we shall consider

particular

cases and show that additional

symmetries

lead to very

simple expressions.

3. I ELLIPTICAL SHEAR. - In order to get an

elliptic

shear motion, we put xn = y,, = 0 and m = 1 :

Resolution of

equation (6)

in this case

gives

the follow-

ing supplementary

symmetry :

It is worth

emphasizing

that the coefficients

A ",k

and

B;:ðll

are

dependent

on the roll

wavelength.

So a result obtained for a

particular

case cannot be

generalized

to different

geometries

without

checking

that no drastic

wavelength

variation occurs. A recent

experiment [5]

has shown that a

complete change

of

amplitude

values

(for example going

from an

ellipse

to an

eight

(see

below)) gives

rise to rolls of very

different

shape,

so the coefficients

appearing

in MUV(S) may

considerably change.

For

elliptical

shear,

this remark does not introduce an

important

restric-

tion since the

wavelength

variation is, at this order of

computation, negligible

when the

ellipticity

varies

[3].

Thus we are allowed to use the additional sym- metry

occurring when x,

= y 1 in order to reduce

M(S) ; solving (6)

for this

special

case, we get :

If, as was done in

[7],

we decide that the result is

good enough

when we cut all terms in nO with n > 2,

we get the threshold

published

in that reference. Let

us recall that this lead also to the fact that P vs.

XI/YI

is a step curve with a

jump

of

n/2 when x i

= YI.

JOURNAL DE PHYSIQUE - T. 46, mo 5, MAI 1985

Thus the

symmetries

enable us to get the

complete

form of the threshold

(in [7]

the symmetry method

was used to get the

higher

order but the lower one was obtained

by

a classical

computation).

It also

allows us to say that, as

long

as it remains

possible

(7)

704

to describe the second transition

(i.e.

from rolls to

squares) by

the appearance of a new roll set, the second threshold

equation

will fulfil the same res-

trictions

imposed by

the

symmetries

and so will have

the same form. It is worth

noting

that even a semi-

quantitative

determination of this second threshold

by

usual methods would involve cumbersome cal- culations.

3.2 EIGHT-SHAPED SHEARS. - Another

interesting

case is obtained

by putting

xn = ym = 0

(or

x. = yn =

0)

in

equation (1).

This leads to the

following plate

motion

(Fig. 4)

(m

odd, n

even).

In the

following,

we shall

design

this type of

figure by

«

eight-shaped

shear ».

Experiments

have shown

that the

wavelength

is not very sensitive to the varia- tion of shear

amplitudes [5],

so we can use the limit

cases xm = 0

and yn

= 0 to get more restriction on

M" ; x. = 0

(y.

=

0)

introduced in

(6) produces

a

new symmetry :

Fig. 4. - Examples of eight-shaped shear motions. We give

here the figures one obtains for (m, n) = (1, 2) and (m, n) = (1, 4).

This leads to the

following

reduced matrix

M(S)

Let us notice that in the case of an

eight-shaped

shear, P is

proportional

to xm yn ;

by calculating

det

M(S)

= 0, we get

(Fig. 5)

(For

the sake of

simplicity

we have included the

T-dependence

in the coefficients a’ and

b’.)

For a

given frequency,

the

instability begins

at

the lowest shear

satisfying (9).

1’his leads to the

minimization of

x’y’ld’

with respect to T when this

angle

is no

longer imposed by

some external

device but left free.

Doing

this, we obtain an

implicit equation

for P,

independent

of the shear

amplitude

and of the

frequency.

The

experiment [5]

shows that

P remains constant over a

large

domain of shear

amplitude

and that our threshold

equation

well

reproduces

the observed data. The

shape

of the

threshold curve in the case of

« eight

shear » is

pictured

in

figure

5.

Fig. 5. - Threshold curve under eight-shaped shear motion.

A delimits the uniform and the roll regimes. B is the roll-

square threshold.

(8)

sm

and sn

can take the values ± 1; xm

and xn

are

chosen so as to be of the same

sign.

The resolution of

equation (6)

with these shear

amplitudes

leads to the

following

additional sym- metries :

Fig. 6. - Flower-shaped shears. At given frequency co/2 n

and for fixed (m, n), the threshold curve (11) depends on the

ratio r = (sn xn)/(sm xm). We give here some shear figures

one gets for m = 1 and n = 4 by varying r.

It is

interesting

to observe that when the

product

Sm Sn

changes

its

sign,

the symmetry of the shear

figure changes.

In fact, a

figure with Sm Sn

= + 1

has a rotation axis of order

(m - n) ;

if sm sn = - 1, the order of rotation axis is

(m + n). Figure

6 illustrates this

change

of symmetry for a

gradual

variation of the ratio r =

(Sn xn)/(sm xm).

If we assume

again

that, at this order of calculation,

the roll

wavelength

is

nearly

constant, we can use

the limit case of the

ellipse

to

simplify

the matrix

M(S).

Let us consider the case xn = 0; this leads to a certain threshold which has to be the

elliptical

one for a motion

frequency

of w’ = mm.

Applying

the same argument for xm = 0, we

finally

get

Before

writing

this we have

replaced

the sums above k

by

the introduction of a

T-dependence

in the coeffi-

cients. One can observe that the threshold is invariant under the whole symmetry group

previously

defined,

and in

particular

under the rotations of order (m ±

n).

Anew derivation with respect to IF will lead to an

implicit equation

for P,

independent

of the

magnitude

of the shears and of the

frequencies.

The

shape

of the threshold surface

(11)

in

phase

space

OXm

P is

given

in

figure

7. The

deep valley

shown is due to the annulation of the term

(sm mx;

+ sn

nx;), leading

to a sixth order threshold in x;, y;. This can be

interpreted

as a

stability

increase

of the sheared nematic

liquid

when the

amplitudes

are

approximately

related

by xm

=

(n/m) xn.

In this

case, the threshold, up to the sixth order, reads

(9)

706

Fig. 7. - Shape of threshold curve under flower-shaped

shear.

P is of third order

in xi (i

= n4 n), as in case of

eight- shaped

shear. Shear motions which

give

way to such thresholds (P -

xt)

seem to be related

by

some

common characteristic. Let us define the area of a

figure

as

being positive

if the borders are followed clockwise and

negative

otherwise

(see Fig. 8). Using

this definition,

figures

with

x. - (n/m) x’

have a

zero area since the total area of the «

petals

» is

almost

equal

to the centre area, but with an

opposite sign.

4. Conclusions.

In this paper we have shown that symmetry conside- rations lead to some

interesting predictions

about the

instability

threshold

appearing

in

periodically

sheared

nematics : we have studied both the

shape

of the

threshold curve and the orientation of the

instability

induced structure. In all the considered cases the structure orientation at threshold is

independent

of the variation of the shear

figure

except for some

jumps.

Moreover, we do not need any detailed infor- mation on the

regime

which becomes unstable.

In the case of a transition from uniform to roll

regime

followed

by

a transition from roll to square flow,

this remark shows that both threshold curves have

Fig. 8. - The « petals » of the shear figure are followed clockwise, so their area is positive; the centre of the figure

is followed counterclockwise and thus is negative. The total

area; when

x’ - (n/m) x;,

is almost zero (here (m, n) = (1, 4)).

the same

shape (only

the numerical constants can be

different).

We want to

emphasize

that the method can be

applied

to other

problems.

It may be

particularly

useful to get

qualitative

ideas of threshold curves in a

lot of involved instabilities. The

only required

condi-

tion is that there is

enough

information to determine the

right

set of parameters

entering

the

problem,

their order of

magnitude

and the symmetry group

acting

in each case.

Finally

we propose this method

as a useful tool to

qualitatively

solve a wide range of symmetry

breaking problems.

Acknowledgments.

We are

grateful

to F. Reust for his

help

and his

assistance in

developing

the symmetry considerations.

We thank E. Dubois-Violette, E. Guazzelli, E.

Guyon,

P. Pieranski for fruitful discussions and for their

hospitality

in Paris and

Orsay.

We

acknowledge

the

referees for their useful comments.

During

the matu-

ration of this paper, we have had

stimulating

talks

with A.

Bay

and M. Jorand. We are indebted to S. Herranz, N. Leiser for technical assistance and to S. Moch for a careful

reading

of the

manuscript

(10)

Let us notice that we have retained

only

terms up to third order in xi, yi

(i

= m,

n).

P is at least of second order in x;, yi as it can be verified

by inspection

of

M(S).

We shall show, with an

example,

how it is

possible

to obtain

this reduced form; for instance, a term like

must vanish. Let us first evaluate this term after a rotation of n, with the

help

of S’

(see

the table in §

2. 3) :

We shall now evaluate the left member of

equation (8) by using

the table of

symmetries given

in § 2. 3 :

So

equation (8) implies M(S’)

=

M(S) ;

this leads to

References

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1280.

[2] DREYFUS, J.-M. and GUYON, E., J. Physique 42 (1981)

283.

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