Mass‐Transfer‐Limited Current Distributions on Electrode Arrays in the Presence of a Shear Flow

Abstract

Mass‐transfer‐limited current distributions on an array of three line electrodes in the presence of a shear flow are investigated. Steady, unidirectional shear flows are examined by numerical simulations and periodic shear flows are studied experimentally and numerically. The current distribution in the presence of a periodic shear flow can be determined from the dimensionless distance between each electrode, a Péclet number, and the dimensionless frequency of the fluid flow oscillations. Experimental results are obtained from ferricyanide reduction on an array of platinum electrodes. The electrode assembly is mounted on a plate that oscillates in its own plane to produce the periodic shear flow. All simulations are carried out using a program based on a control‐volume formulation. The temporal variation and time average of the current density flowing to each electrode agree with numerically simulated results.