Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, Vol.119, No.1-3, 61-69, 2004
Electrohydrodynamic convection in small aspect ratio devices
We present numerical and experimental results on steady electrohydrodynamic convection in nematic liquid crystal flows. Numerical bifurcation techniques have been applied to the Ericksen-Leslie equations in finite two-dimensional domains in order to investigate the interaction between neighbouring instabilities. A cusp has been uncovered in the solution surface in qualitative agreement with complimentary experiments. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.