Electroconvective cavity flow patterns created by a cylinder-plane configuration

Abstract

The presented work is an experimental study on electroconvective cavity flow patterns produced by a cylinder-plane electrode geometry. Flows are recorded by the use of the well-known Particle Image Velocimetry technique. The main objective of this work is to develop flow control methods in order to enhance heat transfer and mixing efficiency in fluidic and microfluidic systems. In this study, the electrohydrodynamic flow motion is obtained by applying a DC voltage to a set of electrodes immersed in a working liquid. It is shown that the produced velocity fields strongly depend on the applied voltage and a reverse flow is obtained when the polarity is inverted. An analysis of the velocity field is then realized in order to highlight the electric force map.