Mathematical Modelling and Analysis of Industrially-Important Flows of Liquid Crystals: Spreading and Channel Filling

摘要：本项目由工程和物理科学研究理事会(EPSRC)工业案例博士生与默克化工有限公司(默克)共同支持。该项目将得到史密斯工业数学和系统工程研究所的支持。项目背景：液晶显示器现在作为显示器在现代电子设备中无处不在，如平板大屏幕电视、笔记本电脑、手机、数码相机和电子玩具。然而，随着显示技术应用的数量和规模不断增长，技术需求也随之增长，在液晶领域拥有40年经验的默克公司处于开发新的和更高效的显示器以及更低成本和更高效的制造技术(有时称为“工艺强化”)方面的前沿。液晶显示器制造是一个数十亿英镑的国际产业，因此，即使是相对较小的科学和技术进步，也可以为相关公司和更广泛的社会(更广泛地获得更负担得起、更可靠的设备)带来可观的经济效益(就增加利润而言)。斯特拉斯克莱德背景：格拉斯哥的斯特拉斯克莱德大学在液晶理论分析方面有着良好的记录，这可以追溯到弗兰克·莱斯利·弗里斯教授和曾傑瑞·埃里克森教授的开创性工作，他与曾傑瑞·埃里克森教授共同建立了著名的、被广泛研究的向列型液晶埃里克森-莱斯利方程。斯特拉斯克莱德大学的连续介质力学和工业数学(CMIM)研究小组(由威尔逊教授领导)在研究复杂流体(特别是液晶)的流动和各种薄膜流动方面具有特殊的专业知识。项目目标：拟议的项目的目标是使用分析和数值技术的组合来为与液晶显示技术的制造相关的基本科学问题带来新的见解和理解，特别是液晶在物理和/或化学上不均匀的衬底上的扩散，监督：该项目将由斯特拉斯克莱德大学数学和统计系的斯蒂芬·威尔逊教授和奈杰尔·莫特伦教授，以及德国默克公司的大卫·威尔克斯博士和英国默克公司的雷切尔·塔芬博士监督。这名学生将常驻斯特拉斯克莱德，定期访问南安普敦和德国的默克公司。

Summary: This project is supported by an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Industrial CASE PhD studentship in conjunction with Merck Chemicals Ltd (Merck). The project will be supported by the Smith Institute for Industrial Mathematics and System Engineering.Project Background: Liquid crystal displays are now ubiquitous as displays in modern electronic devices, such as flat large-screen televisions, laptops, mobile phones, digital cameras and electronic toys. However, as the number and scale of display technology applications continue to grow the technical demands grow alongside them, and with 40 years of experience in the field of liquid crystals Merck are at the cutting edge of developing new and more efficient displays and the techniques for manufacturing them more cheaply and efficiently (sometimes called "process intensification"). Liquid crystal display manufacturing is a multi-billion pound international industry, and so even relatively small scientific and technological improvements can have substantial economic benefits both to the companies involved (in terms of increased profits) and to wider society (in terms of more widespread access to more affordable and more reliable devices).Strathclyde Context: The University of Strathclyde in Glasgow has a well-established track record in the theoretical analysis of liquid crystals, dating back to the pioneering work by Professor Frank Leslie FRS who, together with Professor Jerry Ericksen, formulated the famous and widely-studied Ericksen-Leslie equations for nematic liquid crystals. The Continuum Mechanics and Industrial Mathematics (CMIM) research group at Strathclyde (led by Professor Wilson) has particular expertise in studying the flow of complex fluids (and, in particular, liquid crystals) and a wide variety of thin-film flows.Project Aims: The aim of the proposed project is to use a combination of analytical and numerical techniques to bring new insight and understanding to fundamental scientific problems associated with the manufacturing of liquid crystal display technologies, specifically the spreading of a liquid crystal over a physically and/or chemically heterogeneous substrate, and the filling of a narrow channel with a liquid crystal.Supervision: The project will be supervised by Professors Stephen Wilson and Nigel Mottram in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Strathclyde and Dr David Wilkes (Merck Germany) and Dr Rachel Tuffin (Merck UK). The student will be based at Strathclyde, with regular visits to Merck in Southampton and Germany.