Electrohydrodynamic Flow Field Research Articles

A Focus on Two Electrokinetics Issues.

This review article intends to communicate the new understanding and viewpoints on two fundamental electrokinetics topics that have only become available recently. The first is on the holistic approach to the Poisson–Boltzmann equation that can account for the effects arising from the interaction between the mobile ions in the Debye layer and the surface charge. The second is on the physical picture of the inner electro-hydrodynamic flow field of an electrophoretic particle and its drag coefficient. For the first issue, the traditional Poisson–Boltzmann equation focuses only on the mobile ions in the Debye layer; effects such as charge regulation and the isoelectronic point arising from the interaction between the mobile ions in the Debye layer and the surface charge are left to supplemental measures. However, a holistic treatment is entirely possible in which the whole electrical double layer—the Debye layer and the surface charge—is treated consistently from the beginning. While the derived form of the Poisson–Boltzmann equation remains unchanged, the zeta potential boundary condition becomes a calculated quantity that can reflect the various effects due to the interaction between the surface charges and the mobile ions in the liquid. The second issue, regarding the drag coefficient of a spherical electrophoretic particle, has existed ever since the breakthrough by Smoluchowski a century ago that linked the zeta potential of the particle to its mobility. Due to the highly nonlinear mathematics involved in the electro-hydrodynamics inside the Debye layer, there has been a lack of an exact solution for the electrophoretic flow field. Recent numerical simulation results show that the flow field comprises an inner region and an outer region, separated by a rather sharp interface. As the inner flow field is carried along by the particle, the measured drag is that at the inner/outer interface rather than at the solid/liquid interface. This identification and its associated physical picture of the inner flow field resolves a long-standing puzzle regarding the electrophoretic drag coefficient.

Numerical investigation of mass transfer enhancement through a porous body affected by electric field

ABSTRACTThe use of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) actuator has emerged recently as an effective mean to enhance mass transfer. However, the effect of nonthermal EHD-induced mass transfer in such porous body has remained unclear. Hence, in this paper, the mass transfer enhancement with EHD technique in a porous body is numerically investigated using the finite volume method. The flow patterns and the moisture content have been studied for different Reynolds numbers and the applied voltages. The numerical results show that the EHD flow field amplifies the mass transfer by a factor of 20.5 for Re = 200 and 2.12 for the Re = 4,000 and V = 28 kV in comparison to the case without the electric field.

Tangential electroviscous drag on a sphere surrounded by a thin double layer near a wall for arbitrary particle–wall separations

When a charged particle moves along a charged wall in a polar fluid, it experiences an electroviscous lift force normal to the surface and an electroviscous drag, superimposed on the viscous drag, parallel to the surface. Here a theoretical analysis is presented to determine the electroviscous drag on a charged spherical particle surrounded by a thin electrical double layer near a charged plane wall, when the particle translates parallel to the wall without rotation, in a symmetric electrolyte solution at rest. The electroviscous (electro-hydrodynamic) forces, arising from the coupling between the electrical and hydrodynamic equations, are determined as a solution of three partial differential equations, for electroviscous ion concentration (perturbed ion clouds), electroviscous potential (perturbed electric potential) and electroviscous or electro-hydrodynamic flow field (perturbed flow field). The problem was previously solved for small gap widths and low Peclet numbers in the inner region around the gap between the sphere and the wall, using lubrication theory. Here the restriction on the particle–wall distances is removed, and an analytical and numerical solution is obtained valid for the whole domain of interest. For large sphere–wall separations the solution approaches that for the electroviscous drag on an isolated sphere in an unbounded fluid. For small particle–wall distances it differs from that obtained by the use of lubrication theory, showing that lubrication theory is inadequate for electroviscous problems. The analytical results are in complete agreement with the full numerical calculations. For small particle–wall distances a model is given which provides both physical insight and an easy way to calculate the force with high precision.

Dynamic Angular Segregation of Vesicles in Electrohydrodynamic Flows

We investigate a new type of behavior whereby small vesicles orbiting around a larger vesicle in a toroidal electrohydrodynamic flow undergo dynamic angular segregation. Application of a low frequency (approximately 50 Hz) electric field induces aggregation of adjacent unilamellar vesicles near the electrode, in a manner similar to that observed with rigid colloidal particles. For polydisperse vesicle suspensions, however, small vesicles (<10 microm) are often observed to "orbit" around larger vesicles (>20 microm) in a toroidal electrohydrodynamic flow field. While orbiting, the smaller vesicles gradually segregate into well-defined angular cross sections. Viewed from above, the vesicles appear to form dynamic "bands" at prescribed angles, separated by regions devoid of vesicles. We interpret the angular segregation in terms of induced dipolar interactions, and we propose a model based on point dipoles rotating in a cellular flow field. We demonstrate that the model yields a surprisingly diverse range of vesicle trajectories, including many that are qualitatively consistent with the experimental observations.

Effects of Electrohydrodynamic Flow and Turbulent Diffusion on Collection Efficiency of an Electrostatic Precipitator with Cavity Walls

The effects of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) flow and turbulent diffusion on the collection efficiency of particles in a model ESP composed of the plates with a cavity were studied through numerical computation. Electric field and ion space charge density in the ESP were calculated by the Poisson equation of electric potential and the current continuity equation of ion space charge. The EHD flow field was solved by the continuity and momentum equations of gas phase, including the electrical body force induced by the movement of ions under the electric field. RNG k - l model was utilized to analyze turbulent flow. Particle concentration distribution was calculated from the convective diffusion equation of particle phase. As the ion space charge increased, the collection efficiency of charged particles increased because the electric potential increased over the entire domain in the ESP. The collection efficiency decreased as the EHD flow became stronger when the electrical migration velocity of charged particles was high. However, the collection efficiency could increase for the stronger EHD flow when the electrical migration velocity of charged particles was relatively lower. Also, the collection efficiency decreased as the turbulent diffusion of particles increased when the electrical migration velocity of particles was high. However, the collection efficiency could increase with the turbulent diffusion when the electrical migration velocity of particles was relatively lower.

On the modelling of the electro-hydrodynamic flow field in electrostatic precipitators

Electro-hydrodynamic (EHD) flows are investigated theoretically and numerically in this paper and results are presented for the flow field in model electrostatic precipitators (EPs). The resulting flow fields are shown in various representations and explained qualitatively. Numerical calculations with different flow models (non-turbulent and RANS) were conducted to investigate the influence of the flow model on the resulting secondary flows. Furthermore, a perturbation analysis is presented, leading to a simple differential equation of the Helmholtz type. This allows a more detailed view of the important mechanisms forming the secondary flows as well as being able to obtain a very fast estimation of the resulting flow field. The calculations reveal a strong influence of a vortex formation at the beginning of the precipitation zone on the whole flow field. Furthermore, a strong effect of the boundary conditions of the electric field and the operating parameters is shown.

Particle Dynamics in an Electrohydrodynamic Flow Field investigated with a two‐component laser‐doppler velocimeter

AbstractA laser‐Doppler instrument has been used to measure the migration velocity of NaCl particles in an electrohydrodynamic flow field of an electrical precipitator. The measured average migration velocity of 1.40‐μm particles (number distribution median with a geometric standard devitation of 1.46) is approximately five to six times higher than the calculated steady‐state velocity for a 1.40‐μm particle, provided there is a saturation charge of at least 90f%. Further, the particle velocities in the main flow direction are also influenced by the electrical operation conditions. Both observations demonstrate the important role of the state of the electrohydrodynamic flow field (superposition of moving gas ions and neutral gas molecules) on the particle transport, characterized by the dimensionless electrohydrodynamic number NEHD. A comparison between six different electrohydrodynamic states revealed that NEHD ≈︁ 1 is a critical value for the mutual interactions between the gas ions and the neutral gas phase. Whereas for NEHD values &gt; 1 the stochastic particle motion is chiefly determined by the nonsteady‐state character of the negative corona, for NEHD values &lt; 1 the particle velocity fluctuations are governed by the turbulence level of the neutral fluid. These finding might be helpful in adjusting the operating conditions in electrical precipitators for and optimized particle separation.