Measure-valued solutions to the Ericksen-Leslie model equipped with the Oseen-Frank energy

Abstract

In this article, we prove the existence of measure-valued solutions to the Ericksen-Leslie system equipped with the Oseen-Frank energy. We introduce the concept of generalized gradient Young measures. Via a Galerkin approximation, we show the existence of weak solutions to a regularized system and attain measure-valued solutions for vanishing regularization. Additionally, it is shown that the measure-valued solution fulfills an energy inequality.