A hydrodynamical model of nematic liquid crystal films with a general state of orientational order

We develop a Q-tensor model of nematic liquid crystals occupying a stationary surface which represents a fluidic material film in space. In addition to the evolution due to Landau–de,Gennes energy the model includes a tangent viscous incompressible flow along the surface. A thermodynamically consistent coupling of a two-dimensional flow and a three-dimensional Q-tensor dynamics is derived from the generalized Onsager principle following the Beris–Edwards system known in the flat case. The main novelty of the model is that it allows for a flow of an arbitrarily oriented liquid crystal so the Q-tensor is not anchored to the tangent plane of the surface, and also obeys an energy law. Several numerical experiments explore kinematical and dynamical properties of the novel model.