Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Abstract

• Thin, freely-suspended smectic liquid crystal films, due to their layered structure, provide an ideal system with which to study two dimensional (2D) hydrodynamics. We have performed some of the first experimental visualizations of actively-driven 2D flow fields, and compared these flow fields to predictions made by theoretical models. First, an experiment testing the flow field generated by a disk-shaped inclusion moving laterally in a film is described. Then an experiment testing the flow field generated by a thin nozzle injecting fluid at a quick rate into a large reservoir is detailed. Results are consistent with the idea that 2D fluids exhibit strong coupling with surrounding bulk fluid.

Creator

• Ferguson, Kyle R.

Date Awarded

• 2016-01-01

Academic Affiliation

• Physics

Advisor

• Maclennan, Joseph

Committee Member

• Cumalat, John
• Hoefer, Mark

Granting Institution

• University of Colorado Boulder

Subject

• 2D hydrodynamics
• Levine/MacKintosh
• Saffman-Delbruck
• liquid crystal

Last Modified

• 2019-12-02

Resource Type

• Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Rights Statement

• In Copyright

Language

• English [eng]

Relationships

In Collection:

• Arts and Sciences Honors Program

Items

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Visibility	Actions
	active2DMicrorheologicalStudiesInFreelySuspendedSmecticLi.pdf	2019-11-30	Public	Download