Heat transfer enhancement induced by electrically generated convection in a plane layer of dielectric liquid

Abstract

The electro-thermo-convective motion in a plane horizontal dielectric liquid layer subjected to simultaneous action of electric field and thermal gradient is numerically investigated. We consider the case of a strong unipolar charge injection C = 10 from above or below. Therefore in this context, we only take into account the Coulomb force, disregarding the dielectric one. The effect of the electric field on the heat transfer is analyzed through the characterization of the time history of the Nusselt number as well as its evolution according to the characteristic dimensionless electric parameter T. It is demonstrated that the electric effects dominate the buoyancy ones resulting in an electrically induced convection which significantly enhance the heat transfer.