Out of shear plane deformations in nematic liquid crystals

Abstract

The stability of the director field to deformations out of the plane of shear is examined by use of the Taylor expansion method based on catastrophe theory. For simple shear flow of nematics, the coming out of the shear plane is found for suitable surface alignment and not too high twist elastic constant. The role of these parameters is pointed out. Non-flow-aligning nematics are also considered, and results consistent with earlier reports are obtained.