Ericksen number
Encyclopedia
In the study of liquid crystals, the Ericksen number denoted by 
, is a dimensionless number used to describe the deformation of the director field under flow. It is defined as the ratio of the viscous to elastic forces. In the limit of low Ericksen number the elastic forces will exceed the viscous forces and so the director field will not be strongly affected by the flow field. The Ericksen number is named after Jerald Ericksen
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, is a dimensionless number used to describe the deformation of the director field under flow. It is defined as the ratio of the viscous to elastic forces. In the limit of low Ericksen number the elastic forces will exceed the viscous forces and so the director field will not be strongly affected by the flow field. The Ericksen number is named after Jerald EricksenJerald Ericksen
Jerald LaVerne Ericksen is an American mathematician specializing in continuum mechanics.Jerald was born 20 December 1924 in Portland, Oregon. His father Adolf worked at a Portland creamery and became adept at judging the quality of butter. Later his father acquired a small creamery in Vancouver,...
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