Large-deformation electrohydrodynamics of an elastic capsule in a DC electric field

Abstract

The dynamics of a spherical elastic capsule, containing a Newtonian fluid bounded by an elastic membrane and immersed in another Newtonian fluid, in a uniform DC electric field is investigated. Discontinuity of electrical properties, such as the conductivities of the internal and external fluid media as well as the capacitance and conductance of the membrane, leads to a net interfacial Maxwell stress which can cause the deformation of such an elastic capsule. We investigate this problem considering well-established membrane laws for a thin elastic membrane, with fully resolved hydrodynamics in the Stokes flow limit, and describe the electrostatics using the capacitor model. In the limit of small deformation, the analytical theory predicts the dynamics fairly satisfactorily. Large deformations at high capillary number, though, necessitate a numerical approach (axisymmetric boundary element method in the present case) to solve this highly nonlinear problem. Akin to vesicles, at intermediate times, highly nonlinear biconcave shapes along with squaring and hexagon-like shapes are observed when the outer medium is more conducting. The study identifies the essentiality of parameters such as high membrane capacitance, low membrane conductance, low hydrodynamic time scales and high capillary number (the ratio of the destabilizing electric force to the stabilizing elastic force) for observation of these shape transitions. The transition is due to large compressive Maxwell stress at the poles at intermediate times. Thus such shape transition can be seen in spherical globules admitting electrical capacitance, possibly irrespective of the nature of the interfacial restoring force.