Strong solutions for the Beris-Edwards model for nematic liquid crystals with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions

Abstract

Existence and uniqueness of local strong solutions for the Beris--Edwards model for nematic liquid crystals, which couples the Navier-Stokes equations with an evolution equation for the $Q$-tensor, is established on a bounded domain $\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^d$ in the case of homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. The classical Beris--Edwards model is enriched by including a dependence of the fluid viscosity on the $Q$-tensor. The proof is based on a linearization of the system and Banach's fixed-point theorem.