W. Muschik and C. Papenfuss
An evolution criterion of nonequilibrium thermodynamics
and its application to liquid crystals
Physica A 201, 1993, 515-526
In thermostatics it is well known that special potentials belonging to
discrete systems are extremal, if constraints are given. Aim of this
paper is to derive a continuum theoretical foundation of such a
variational principle which is also valid in nonequilibrium and which
therefore should be denoted as an evolution criterion. Application of
this evolution criterion to liquid crystals results in Landau
equations in alignment tensor formulation.