Wave Regimes of Electroconvection of a Low Conducting Liquid under Unipolar Injection of a Charge in a Steady Electric Field

Abstract

We have analyzed nonlinear regimes for a nonuniformly heated low conducting liquid in a horizontal capacitor in the gravity field and in a steady electric field under unipolar injection of a charge from the cathode and heating from above. We have considered a model in which the density of charges injected from the cathode is proportional to the electric field strength in the capacitor. For thermal Rayleigh number Ra = –1000, we have constructed the bifurcation diagram of regimes. We have analyzed various electroconvection regimes (stationary regime as well as the regime of standing and traveling waves). Analyzing the effect of increasing heating from above, we have detected transitions between the regimes: the traveling wave regime changes to the standing wave regime, which is transformed into the regime of a modulated standing wave.