The flow of liquid crystals in the presence of electric fields is investigated as a possible means of flow control. The Beris-Edwards model is coupled to a free energy incorporating electric field effects. Simulations are conducted in straight channels and in junctions. Our findings reveal that local flow mediation can be achieved by the application of spatially varying electric fields. In rectangular straight channels, we report a two-stream velocity profile arising in response to the imposed electric field. Furthermore, we observe that the flow rate in each stream scales inversely with the Miesowicz viscosities, leading to the confinement of 70% of the throughput to one half of the channel. Similar flow partitioning is also demonstrated in channel junction geometries, where we show that using external fields provides a novel avenue for flow modulation in microfluidic circuits.

研究了电场存在下液晶的流动作为一种可能的流动控制手段。 Beris-Edwards 模型与包含电场效应的自由能耦合。模拟在直通道和交汇处进行。我们的研究结果表明，局部流动调节可以通过应用空间变化的电场来实现。在矩形直通道中，我们报告了响应外加电场而产生的两股流速度分布。此外，我们观察到每条流中的流速与 Miesowicz 粘度成反比，导致 70% 的吞吐量被限制在一半的通道中。类似的流动分配也在通道连接几何结构中得到了证明，我们表明使用外部场为微流体电路中的流动调节提供了一种新颖的途径。