Simulation of nonstationary electrohydrodynamic flows in a symmetric system of electrodes of the wire-wire type

Computer simulation is carried out for the process of formation of electrohydrodynamic flows emerging in a system of two parallel wires as a result of symmetric injection from each electrode (2D case). Simulation is performed using the ANSYS system. A simulation algorithm is developed for nonstationary electrohydrodynamic flows. The results of simulation are presented. Analysis of the results shows that the evolution of electrohydrodynamic flows is accompanied by the formation of thin oppositely charged liquid streams moving in opposite direction from near-electrode charged layers.     

Kinematic structure of electrohydrodynamic flow in “wire-wire” and “wire over plane” electrode systems placed in a liquid

A specially designed program package is used for the visualization of experimental data for 2D electrohydrodynamic flows in geometrically symmetric (wire-wire) and asymmetric (wire over plane) electrode systems. The velocity and acceleration distributions in the flows are obtained. The influence of the passive electrode on the kinematic and dynamic structures of the electrodynamic flows is revealed by comparing the results obtained for both electrode systems. A recombination zone is separated and studied.     

Simulation of the electrohydrodynamic flow pattern in an asymmetric system of electrodes

Computer-aided simulation of the electrohydrodynamic flow pattern in an asymmetric system of electrodes (configured as “narrow depression under plane” or “blade above plane”) is carried out. The objective of the simulation is to reveal a correspondence between the kinematic flow pattern and the distribution of driving (Coulomb) forces. The kinematic pattern of the flow simulated is compared with the results of experimental data processing. Good agreement between the simulation results and experimental data is found.     

对称双势垒量子阱中自旋极化输运的时间特性

电子的隧穿时间是描述量子器件动态工作范围的重要指标. 本文考虑k³ Dresselhaus 自旋轨道耦合效应对系统哈密顿量的修正, 结合转移矩阵方法和龙格-库塔法来解含时薛定谔方程, 进而讨论了电子在非磁半导体对称双势垒结构中的透射系数及隧穿寿命等问题. 研究结果发现:由于k³ Dresselhaus 自旋轨道耦合效应使自旋简并消除, 并在时间域内得到了表达, 导致自旋向上和自旋向下电子的透射峰发生了自旋劈裂; 不同自旋取向的电子构建时间和隧穿寿命不同, 这是导致自旋极化的原因之一; 电子的自旋极化在时间上趋于稳定. 关键词： 自旋极化输运 透射系数 隧穿寿命 自旋极化率     

Direct numerical simulation of electrohydrodynamic plumes generated by a hyperbolic blade electrode

This paper presents a numerical study of two-dimensional EHD flow occurring between a hyperbolic blade and a plate electrode. The whole set of coupled equations is solved: Navier–Stokes equations, Poisson equation and charge conservation equation. A finite volume approach designed for non-orthogonal structured grid is used to discretize all governing equations. An efficient numerical procedure based on total variation diminishing (TVD) scheme is implemented to compute the distribution of charge density. Two different injection laws are considered: a simple autonomous one and a non autonomous which relates the charge injected by the blade and the local electric field. The flow structure which results in an EHD plume analogous to a thermal plume, has also been successfully characterized numerically by the temporal evolution of the charge density distribution. Preliminary results indicate that the flow is characterized by two different regimes according the value of the applied voltage. The critical Reynolds number for which the transition between the steady and unsteady regimes occurs has been determined to be within the range Re = [1000, 1100].     

Three-dimensional analysis of electrohydrodynamic flow in a spiked electrode-plate electrostatic precipitator

A three-dimensional numerical model has been created to evaluate the electrical and electrohydrodynamic characteristics of a single spiked wire-plate electrostatic precipitator. The hybrid Finite Element – Flux Corrected Transport numerical technique is used for solving the Poisson and current continuity equations to estimate the electric potential and ion charge density distributions in the precipitation channel. The fully three-dimensional turbulent airflow distribution is calculated using the commercial FLUENT software assuming a standard k–? turbulence model. A non-uniform corona discharge is assumed, as it is produced along the electrode in the form of a flat tape with some number of spikes. The EHD secondary flow pattern and its interaction with the main airflow in different planes along the precipitation channel are examined for different voltages applied to the corona spiked electrode. The numerical results are compared with experimental data published in the literature.     

Effect of micropillar electrode spacing on the performance of electrohydrodynamic micropumps

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) micropumps with three-dimensional 50 μm × 50 μm micropillar electrodes were fabricated and tested in this study. Two basic electrode configurations were investigated: (i) micropillar emitter and collector electrodes (symmetric) and (ii) micropillar emitter and planar collector electrodes (asymmetric). The micropumps were fabricated by integrating chromium/gold planar electrodes with electroplated 3-D Nickel micropillars on a glass substrate with a 100 μm high PDMS microchannel. The effect of the spanwise micropillar spacing on the pump performance was determined. The pumps were tested using HFE-7100 as the working fluid for the maximum pressure generation under a no flow condition. The micropumps with the asymmetric electrode design generated a significantly higher pressure head than the corresponding micropumps with symmetric electrode configuration for the same applied voltage, with lower power consumption. A decrease in the spanwise spacing of the micropillar electrodes increased the pump performance for the symmetric configuration, while the performance decreased for the asymmetric configuration.     

Self-organization of the channel structure of a nanosecond diffuse discharge in a wire-plane electrode system

The results of an experimental study of the spatial structure of a high-voltage diffuse discharge in a wire-plane electrode system are presented. Self-organization of the discharge current channels into regular cells is observed in the plane perpendicular to the electric field vector. The dependences of the structural parameters of the discharge in centimeter-sized gaps on the interelectrode distance are studied at air pressures within the range 220–760 torr. Self-organization of the discharge structure is explained in terms of the electric interaction among charges of the diffuse channel heads during bridging of the gap.     

Altitude dependence of electrohydrodynamic flow in an electrostatic lifter

Experiments carried out during the last 50 years have elucidated the basic mechanism of the Biefeld-Brown effect. Recent research has focused on establishing design rules in order to maximize the lifting force resulting from this effect. For this purpose, a numerical estimation that takes the effect of altitude into account is needed. In the present contribution, the thrust due to Biefeld-Brown effect was computed by simulating the corona-discharge-induced electrohydrodynamic flow in a widely used high-voltage asymmetric capacitor with the major goal to elucidate the dependence of thrust on the altitude, pressure, temperature and humidity, respectively. Our numerical results reproduced the experimentally observed decrease of thrust with altitude and shown that this is a consequence of various competing effects.     

Peculiarities of the interaction of a structure with moving ice

A new model describing the vibration caused by the interaction between the moving ice cover and a structure attached to the bottom is proposed. The equations obtained estimate the forces affecting the structure under its interaction with ice. The influence of the velocity of ice movement on different vibration conditions is analyzed.     

Enhanced stability of electrohydrodynamic jets through gas ionization

Theoretical predictions of the nonaxisymmetric instability growth rate of an electrohydrodynamic jet based on the measured total current overestimate experimental values. We show that this apparent discrepancy is the result of gas ionization in the surrounding gas and its effect on the surface charge density of the jet. As a result of gas ionization, a sudden drop in the instability growth rate occurs below a critical electrode separation, yielding highly stable jets that can be used for nano- to microscale printing.     

Peculiarities in the electronic structure of vanadium metal

The peculiarities of the electronic structure of vanadium metal were investigated on the basis of X-ray diffraction data analysis. The deformation electron density distribution maps has shown that the formation of chemical bond in vanadium metal is accompanied by valence electron migration to the interatomic space and the electron density contraction near nucleus. Contrary non of these effects were observed on the theoeretical APW maps.     

Field-assisted electron transport through a symmetric double-well structure with spin--orbit coupling and the Fano-resonance induced spin filtering

We have investigated theoretically the field-driven electron-transport through a double-quantum-well semiconductor-heterostructure with spin-orbit coupling. The numerical results demonstrate that the transmission spectra are divided into two sets due to the bound-state level-splitting and each set contains two asymmetric resonance peaks which may be selectively suppressed by changing the difference in phase between two driving fields. When the phase difference changes from 0 to π, the dip of asymmetric resonance shifts from one side of resonance peak to the other side and the asymmetric Fano resonance degenerates into the symmetric Breit-Wigner resonance at a critical value of phase difference. Within a given range of incident electron energy, the spin polarization of transmission current is completely governed by the phase difference which may be used to realize the tunable spin filtering.     

Analysis of electrode system for generation of high-power electrodynamic flow

A high-power electrodynamic flow in atmospheric air is numerically simulated and experimentally studied. An electrode system consisting of a cylindrical plasma emitter and a plane metal grid collector of ions is used to generate a flow with a speed of 2 m/s and a volume rate of 15 L/s.     

Predicted flow characteristics of a wire-nonparallel plate type electrohydrodynamic gas pump using the Finite Element Method

The aim of this paper is to numerically investigate the interaction between the electrostatic field and the fluid flow in a wire-nonparallel plate configuration of electrodes. The governing equations: Poisson equation for electric field, continuity equation for charge transport and the momentum equation for gas flow were solved using the Finite Element Method assuming a highly non-uniform mesh distribution. The main outcome of this study is the determination of velocity versus pressure characteristics of the pump, which provides useful information for predicting the pump performance and for control purposes. In addition, the efficiency and optimum geometric configuration are evaluated using this model. The numerical results show that a higher voltage leads to larger velocity and higher pressure, where the gas velocity is a linear, but pressure is a non-linear function of the supplied voltage. It was also found that there is an optimum wall angle for which the air volumetric flow rate from the outlet of the pump reaches the maximum value.     

Transient electrohydrodynamic convective flow and heat transfer of MWCNT - Dielectric nanofluid in a heated enclosure

A computational research was performed to analyze the electrohydrodynamic (EHD) convective heat transfer in a differentially heated dielectric-MWCNT nanofluid layer. The study was conducted on a square enclosure subjected to a temperature gradient between these two vertical walls as well as a potential difference between these horizontal walls. The enclosure was filled with MWCNT oil-based nanofluid; the MWCNT nanoparticles were dispersed in a perfectly insulating thermal oil with a volume fraction of hardly exceeded 0.4%. The governing equations were derived with the assumption of homogeneous nanofluid and were solved with employing finite volume method. Based on the obtained results, it was found that the increase of Rayleigh number, electric Rayleigh number and nanoparticle concentration enhanced the heat transfer. For high thermal and electric Rayleigh number values, the flow and heat transfer became time dependent and accordingly a frequency study was also performed. It was found that the inclusion of an electric field with the addition of nanoparticles led to a significant heat transfer enhancement of about 43%.