Dissipative solutions to a Beris-Edwards type model for compressible active nematic liquid crystals

Abstract: We study the hydrodynamics of compressible active nematic liquid crystals in a three-dimensional and bounded domain, with a nonlinear viscosity tensor and nonhomogeneous boundary data, in a Landau-de Gennes framework. We prove the existence of dissipative solutions within a Beris-Edwards type model for active nematodynamics, which are weak solutions satisfying the underlying equations modulo a defect measure. The proof follows from a three level approximation scheme -- the Galerkin approximation, the classical parabolic regularization of the continuity equation, and the convex regularization of the potential generating the viscous stress. New techniques are required to deal with non-Newtonian stress tensor, larger classes of admissible pressure potentials and nonhomogeneous boundary conditions.