Optimal Control of the Landau–de Gennes Model of Nematic Liquid Crystals

DOI10.1137/22M1506158zbMATH Open1520.49015arXiv2304.06421MaRDI QIDQ6135090FDOQ6135090

Shawn W. Walker, Thomas Surowiec

Publication date: 23 August 2023

Published in: SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We present an analysis and numerical study of an optimal control problem for the Landau-de Gennes (LdG) model of nematic liquid crystals (LCs), which is a crucial component in modern technology. They exhibit long range orientational order in their nematic phase, which is represented by a tensor-valued (spatial) order parameter $Q=Q(x)$. Equilibrium LC states correspond to $Q$ functions that (locally) minimize an LdG energy functional. Thus, we consider an $L^2$-gradient flow of the LdG energy that allows for finding local minimizers and leads to a semi-linear parabolic PDE, for which we develop an optimal control framework. We then derive several a priori estimates for the forward problem, including continuity in space-time, that allow us to prove existence of optimal boundary and external ``force controls and to derive optimality conditions through the use of an adjoint equation. Next, we present a simple finite element scheme for the LdG model and a straightforward optimization algorithm. We illustrate optimization of LC states through numerical experiments in two and three dimensions that seek to place LC defects (where $Q(x)=0$) in desired locations, which is desirable in applications.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.06421

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zbMATH Keywords

nematic liquid crystalsadjoint equationfinite element methoddefects

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Optimality conditions for problems involving partial differential equations (49K20) Discrete approximations in optimal control (49M25) Finite element, Rayleigh-Ritz and Galerkin methods for boundary value problems involving PDEs (65N30) Statistical mechanics of random media, disordered materials (including liquid crystals and spin glasses) (82D30) Semilinear parabolic equations with Laplacian, bi-Laplacian or poly-Laplacian (35K91)

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