Lattice Boltzmann nemato-dynamics

Lattice Boltzmann (LB) methods have been extensively studied for the mesosc opic modelling of isotropic fluids but little attention has been given to t he problem of modelling anisotropic fluids. In this paper an LB scheme is p resented which recovers the equations of the Ericksen-Leslie-Parodi theory of nemato-dynamics. The scheme introduces a second distribution which advec ts with the LB momentum densities and which represents the orientation of a n ordered fluid element. The momentum evolution scheme requires the use of a linearized LB scheme with an anisotropic scattering matrix and the direct or evolution is achieved with an LBGK scheme. Results are presented which a re in good agreement with the predictions of a Chapman-Enskog analysis of t he algorithm. The method provides an initial step in the development of mes oscopic algorithms for modelling the flow of anisotropic fluids.