Second Order, Linear, and Unconditionally Energy Stable Schemes for a Hydrodynamic Model of Smectic-A Liquid Crystals

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the numerical approximations for a hydrodynamical model of smectic-A liquid crystals. The model, derived from the variational approach of the modified Oseen--Frank energy, is a highly nonlinear system that couples the incompressible Navier--Stokes equations and a constitutive equation for the layer variable. We develop two linear, second order time marching schemes based on the Invariant Energy Quadratization method for nonlinear terms in the constitutive equation, the projection method for the Navier--Stokes equations, and some subtle implicit-explicit treatments for the convective and stress terms. Moreover, we prove the well-posedness of the linear system and their unconditionally energy stabilities rigorously. Various numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the stability and the accuracy of the numerical schemes in simulating the dynamics under shear flow and the magnetic field.