|
In this talk, I will describe our simulation efforts on colloidal dispersions in LCs,
with an emphasis on the flow properties.
In the case of passive LCs, examples can include non-Stokesian flow response observed in a simulation of a single particle active microrheology experiment in a chiral liquid crystal, and a complex interplay between rotational and translational motion observed when two particles sediment in a cholesteric (helical) liquid crystal. Finally a strong structural rigidity is observed in a nematic/colloid composites on high colloidal volume fractions, stemming from particle stabilised defect networks percolating in 3D.
I will then expand, time allowing, the system to include an active component, which can be either the host fluid (active nematic gel), or the particles themselves (a model squirmer). Time allowing, I will describe simulations of passive colloidal particles dispersed in an active nematic gel and conversely, microswimmers modelled as a squirmers in a passive nematic host fluid, where the hydrodynamic coupling between the swimmer induced flow field and the nematic director can lead to re-orientation of the swimmers.
|