Abstract
Details of a generalized mean-field model will be presented. A systematic fitting scheme will be discussed to acquire all eleven expansion coefficients in this mean-field model. Very good fitting results are obtained on our high-resolution heat-capacity, tilt-angle, and spontaneous polarization data in the vicinity of the smectic-A-chiral-smectic-C phase transition of p-(n-decyloxybenzylidene)-p-amino-(2-methyl-butyl)cinnamate (DOBAMBC). The fitting also gives qualitative account for one set of existing helicoidal pitch data.