Hydrodynamics and rheology of active liquid crystals: a numerical investigation

Abstract

We report numerical studies of the hydrodynamics and rheology of an active liquid crystal. We confirm the existence of a transition between a passive and an active phase, with spontaneous flow in steady state. We explore how the velocity profile changes with activity, and we point out the difference in behavior for flow-aligning and tumbling materials. We find that an active material can thicken or thin under a flow, or even exhibit both behaviors as the forcing changes.