Shear-induced undulation of smectic-A: Molecular Dynamics simulations vs. analytical theory

Experiments on a variety of systems have shown that layered liquids are unstable under shear even if the liquid layers are planes of constant velocity. We investigate the stability of smectic- A like liquids under shear using Molecular Dynamics simulations and a macroscopic hydrodynamic theory (including the layer normal and the director as independent variables). Both methods show an instability of the layers, which sets in above a critical shear rate. We find a remarkable qualitative and reasonable quantitative agreement between both methods for the spatial homogeneous state and the onset of the instability.