Canonical Distribution Functions in Polymer Dynamics: II. Liquid--Crystalline Polymers

The quasi--equilibrium approximation is employed as a systematic tool for solving the problem of deriving constitutive equations from kinetic models of liquid--crystalline polymers. It is demonstrated how kinetic models of liquid--crystalline polymers can be approximated in a systematic way, how canonical distribution functions can be derived from the maximum entropy principle and how constitutive equations are derived therefrom. The numerical implementation of the constitutive equations based on the intrinsic dual structure of the quasi--equilibrium manifold thus derived is developed and illustrated for particular examples. Finally, a measure of the accuracy of the quasi--equilibrium approximation is proposed that can be implemented into the numerical integration of the constitutive equation.