Effect of an Adiabatic Obstacle on the Symmetry of the Temperature, Flow, and Electric Charge Fields during Electrohydrodynamic Natural Convection

Abstract

This study explores the impact of an adiabatic obstacle on the symmetry of temperature, flow, and electric charge fields during electrohydrodynamic (EHD) natural convection. The configuration studied involves a square, differentially heated cavity with an adiabatic obstacle subjected to a destabilizing thermal gradient and a potential difference between horizontal walls. A numerical analysis was performed using the finite volume method combined with Patankar’s “blocked-off-regions” technique, employing an in-house FORTRAN code. The study covers a range of dimensionless electrical Rayleigh numbers (0 to 700) and thermal Rayleigh numbers (102 to 105), with various obstacle positions. Key findings indicate that while the obstacle reduces heat transfer, this can be counterbalanced by electric field effects, achieving up to 165% local heat transfer improvement and 100% average enhancement. Depending on the obstacle’s position and size, convective transfer can increase by 27% or decrease by 21%. The study introduces five multiparametric mathematical correlations for rapid Nusselt number determination, applicable to numerous engineering scenarios. This work uniquely combines passive (adiabatic obstacle) and active (electric field) techniques to control heat transfer, providing new insights into the flow behaviour and charge distribution in electro-thermo-hydrodynamic systems.