Electric convection in a nematic liquid crystal in a varying electric field

The emergence of electric convection in a nematic liquid crystal under the action of a varying electric field is analyzed in the 1D approximation. A new mode of external field variation with subharmonic oscillations is proposed. The behavior of several classes of synchronous perturbations and subharmonic oscillations is analyzed; the evolution of the fields of the director and of the volume charge is studied. Parametric instability regions are specified and the critical frequencies of transitions between response modes are determined. Stability maps for a nematic liquid crystal are plotted on the frequency-amplitude plane.     

Influence of charge carrier diffusion on the stability of a charged drop of a finite-conductivity liquid

A dispersion relation for the capillary oscillations of a spherical drop of a viscous incompressible liquid with a charge transfer finite rate is derived and analyzed with emphasis on the role of diffusion. It is shown that diffusion has the strongest influence on the stability of rapidly damped quasi-periodic motions of a low-conductivity liquid. The instability growth rate of capillary oscillations grows with the charge diffusion coefficient and decreases with rising conductivity of the liquid.     

Convective flows in a layer of a viscous liquid with the uniformly charged free surface

It is found theoretically that the critical conditions under which a charged liquid surface becomes unstable against the electric charge relax as a result of interaction between capillary-gravitational and convective flows in the liquid. As the surface charge density approaches a value critical in terms of development of Tonks-Frenkel instability, convection in the liquid arises at a temperature gradient however small, this effect depending on the liquid layer thickness.     

Numerical simulations of electro-thermo-convection and heat transfer in 2D cavity

In this article the electro-thermo-convective phenomena in a dielectric liquid enclosed in a 2D cavity and subjected to the simultaneous action of an electric field and a thermal gradient is studied. We solved directly the full set of coupled equations of Electro-Hydro-Dynamic (EHD) and energy equation using a finite volume method. In order to characterize the influence of the electric field on heat transfer the liquid is first heated (from a lateral wall) till the thermal steady state is obtained and then the electric potential and injection of electric charge is applied. Two cases of injection are considered: from the lower electrode and from a lateral wall (left or right). The flow pattern and Nusselt number strongly depend on the non-dimensional characteristic parameters: electrical parameter, Rayleigh number, Prandtl number and mobility parameter M. The convective motion passing from a purely thermal convection to a purely electrical convection and the number of electro-thermo-convective rolls patterns are investigated.As a consequence of the analysis of the combined effect of electric and thermal fields on the flow structure and on Nusselt number, we have also evaluated the heat transfer enhancement due to electroconvection. It is shown that the injection of electric charge increases the heat transfer and Nusselt number is independent of Rayleigh number for high enough values of T.     

Electroconvection under injection from cathode and heating from above

We study the electroconvection that appears in a nonuniformly heated, poorly conducting liquid in a parallel-plate horizontal capacitor due to the action of an external static electric field on the charge injected from the cathode. It is shown that the heating of the layer from above prevents steady-state convection and that, unlike the isothermal situation, electroconvection can appear in the oscillatory manner as a result of direct Hopf bifurcation. The effect of the heating intensity, the intensity of charge injection from the cathode, and the charge mobility on the thresholds of oscillatory and monotonic electroconvection is analyzed and the characteristic scales and frequencies of critical perturbations are determined. The nonlinear wave and steady-state regimes of the 2D convective structures formed in the poorly conducting liquid under the action of thermogravitational and injection mechanisms of convection are analyzed. The domains of existence of standing, traveling, and modulated waves are determined.     

Electroconvection of a poorly conducting fluid in a steady electric field

The emergence of electroconvection and nonlinear flows of a nonisothermal poorly conducting fluid in a steady electric field of a horizontal capacitor is investigated. The main mechanism of charge formation in the fluids under investigation is electric conduction due to the temperature dependence of the charge mobility. The Galerkin method is used for obtaining a system of nonlinear differential equations for the amplitudes of spatial modes; on the basis of this system, steady-state, periodic, and random nonlinear regimes of the fluid flow are investigated. The scenarios of transition to chaotic flows (via intermittence and a subharmonic cascade) are discovered. The interrelation between the electroconductive and thermogravitational mechanisms of convection is analyzed, and hysteretic transitions between monotonic and oscillatory regimes are studied. Qualitative comparison with the experiment is carried out.     

雷暴云带电的理论研究

本文对雷暴云的起电机制进行了研究，提出了雷暴云起电的对流碰撞理论，建立了雷暴云带的简化模型。由该模型给出了雷暴云中电荷的分布函数以及雷暴云轴线上电场强度的计算公式。并对雷暴云闪电过程中电荷的交换情况进行了分析。     

Electrodynamic convection of free charge carriers in semiconductors

The possibility is demonstrated of convective motion of free charge carriers in a thin semiconducting layer with a transverse electric field applied to it. The conditions for the development of this kind of electrodynamic convection and the criteria for stability of the convection cells are studied. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 280–283 (February 1997)     

Breakdown of the homogeneity of weakly conducting liquids in high electric fields

A study of the structure of electrohydrodynamic flows shows that the electric charge carriers are ions that are practically frozen into the surrounding liquid. In other words, ions in weakly conducting liquids are capable of forming more or less stable structures whose viscoelastic properties are different from those of an uncharged liquid. One method of studying this effect is to investigate the velocity dispersion of ultrasound on charged supermolecular formations. The results of theoretical and experimental investigations of acoustic dispersion in liquid dielectrics subjected to prebreakdown electric fields are presented. A model problem of sound propagation in a liquid in which supermolecular structures have formed around elementary charge carriers is studied theoretically. Approximate formulas describing the dispersion of the acoustic phase velocity as a function of the electric field parameters and the electrophysical parameters of the liquid are obtained. The frequency dependence of the sound velocity is of a resonance character, the resonance frequency being determined by the electric charge density and the mass of the charged supermolecular structures. The experiments showed that the space charge affects the velocity of acoustic waves in liquid dielectrics. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 67, 105–111 (October 1997)     

A charge-conservative approach for simulating electrohydrodynamic two-phase flows using volume-of-fluid

In the present study we propose a charge-conservative scheme to solve two-phase electrohydrodynamic (EHD) problems using the volume-of-fluid (VOF) method. EHD problems are usually simplified by assuming that the fluids involved are purely dielectric (insulators) or purely conducting. Gases can be considered as perfect insulators but pure dielectric liquids do not exist in nature and insulating liquids have to be approximated using the “Taylor–Melcher leaky dielectric model” [1], [2] in which a leakage of charge through the liquid due to ohmic conduction is allowed. It is also a customary assumption to neglect the convection of charge against the ohmic conduction. The scheme proposed in this article can deal with any EHD problem since it does not rely on any of the above simplifications. An unrestricted EHD solver requires not only to incorporate electric forces in the Navier–Stokes equations, but also to consider the charge migration due to both conduction and convection in the electric charge conservation equation [3]. The conducting or insulating nature of the fluids arise on their own as a result of their electric and fluid mechanical properties. The EHD solver has been built as an extension to Gerris, a free software solver for the solution of incompressible fluid motion using an adaptive VOF method on octree meshes developed by Popinet [4], [5].     

Current-voltage characteristic of electrospray processes in microfluidics

We use a glass-based microfluidic device to study the electric current behavior of an electrospray process in the presence of a coflowing liquid. The current shows strong voltage dependence and weak flow rate dependence, in stark contrast to classical electrospray. By considering that the current is dominated by convection near the apex of the conical meniscus and driven by tangential electric stresses, we quantitatively capture the voltage and flow rate dependence of the current. Our results elucidate the influence of external field strength and open the way to achieve robust electric control of the current and of the drop size in microfluidics.     

Structures and thermoelectric convection in cholesteric liquid crystals

The possibilities for excitation of electromagnetic field structures and convection cells, i.e., temperature and velocity structures, in a thermotropic cholesteric liquid crystal in the presence of flow are studied. Estimates are made and possible experiments for observing such structures are discussed. A special thermoelectric effect is investigated as the cause of these excitations — the influence of a heating-induced change in the pitch of the cholesteric helix of the molecules on the permittivity and the electric conductivity of the material. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 165–170 (January 1999)     

Dependence of space charge field and gain coefficient on the applied electric field in photorefractive materials

Intensity dependent space charge field and gain coefficient in the photorefractive medium due to the two interfering beams have been calculated by solving the material rate equations in presence of externally applied dc electric field. The gain coefficient has been studied with respect to variations in the input intensity, modulation depth, concentration ratio and normalized diffusion field in the absence and presence of the externally applied dc electric field. Space charge field has also been computed by varying the intensity ratio in the presence and absence of the externally applied dc electric field. It has been found that the rate of change of the space charge field with the normalized dc field decreases with the increasing intensity ratio for different values of the normalized diffusion field. It has also been found that the externally applied dc electric field has appreciable effect only when it is larger than the diffusion field.     

The shape of a drop in a constant electric field

The variation of the shape of a drop immersed in an immiscible liquid under the action of an electric field is calculated. The charge is transferred both by ohmic current through the interface and by the convective component over the interface. A solution quadratic in the parameter that is the ratio of the electric pressure to the capillary pressure is analyzed. Conditions where the drop transforms into a spheroid that is prolate or oblate along the electric field vector are found. An experimental study of the drop deformation by electric forces is carried out.     

手机锂电池充放电过程的研究

利用COBRA3实验设备测试了锂电池待机充放电过程的电压、电流、锂电池电容量及充电量的变化情况。提出通过实时测量锂电池电压值,可精确换算出锂电池的剩余容量的方法。手机待机充电所需时间和关机充电所需时间基本一致。     

Space-charge gratings in photorefractive crystals controlled by an external variable electric field

Specific features of space-charge gratings excited in photorefractive crystals in the presence of an external variable electric field that exhibits power-law time dependence are studied. It is demonstrated that the process under study substantially depends on a parameter of an increase in the external electric field over a time interval that corresponds to the generation of space-charge gratings in the absence of the field. At a relatively small parameter, the charge can be increased in accordance with variations in the field, charge oscillations with increasing amplitude can be induced, and identical excitation of the gratings can be maintained. At a relatively large parameter, the charge of the gratings is proportional to the time of external action, so that the charge can be controlled using external variable electric field.     

The effect of uni/bipolar charge injection on EHD conduction pumping

Electrohydrodynamics (EHD) conduction pumping takes advantage of Coulomb force generated by externally applied electric field and dissociated charges from electrolytes present in the working fluid. With the electric field maintained below the DC breakdown limit (i.e voltage required for charge injection), EHD conduction generated flow relies primarily upon the asymmetry of the electrodes where the flow is always generated toward the specific direction regardless of the electrodes polarity. The charge distribution induced by the process of dissociation may be altered by charge injection, potentially present at the electrodes' surfaces. The charge injection could occur, for example, because of the electrode surface roughness.This paper is a numerical investigation to quantify the impact of the charge injection on the performance of EHD conduction pump. The numerical domain comprises a coplanar asymmetric electrode pair embedded against a 2-D channel wall where the EHD conduction induced liquid flow is expected to be generated from the narrower electrode toward the wider electrode in the absence of charge injection. The electric field, net charge density, and electric body force distributions are presented in the absence and presence of charge injection. In addition, the electrically generated net flow is calculated for several operating conditions.     

Volume-Charged Cones on a Liquid Interface in an Electric Field

In this study, we explore a novel type of slender conical liquid meniscus arisen in high electric field, which carries surface charge and net bulk charge of opposite sign. Stability of such dissipative structure is ensured by the balance between capillary and electrostatic forces and competition between the surface and bulk electric currents. The bulk charge is governed by the applied voltage being generated by the electric field of the cone due to dissociation/associations reactions at its apex. The effect of the physical parameters of the liquid on the microcone structure is elucidated. It is shown that the cone angle cannot exceed a critical value, which is a function of dielectric permittivity of the liquid. The electric current through the cone is found to be proportional to the square of the applied voltage. The obtained results can be applied for analysis of atomization processes of various liquids.     

Ohm’s law in a chiral plasma

The motion of plasma electrons in a stochastic electromagnetic field is studied in the low-conductivity limit. It is shown that under very general conditions, in the presence of a nonzero average chirality of the small-scale electromagnetic field, the effective current depends on the curl of the applied electric field, j=§ E+§_κcurl E, just as for similar dependences for the electric displacement and magnetic induction vectors in optically active and artificial chiral media. Under certain conditions such an Ohm’s law leads to growth of the magnetic field, the structure of the growth being dependent on the conductivity of the medium. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 70, No. 4, 268–273 (25 August 1999)     

Lattice Boltzmann equation method in electrohydrodynamic problems

A consistent lattice Boltzmann equation (LBE) model for simulating different electrohydrodynamic (EHD) phenomena is developed. The model includes fluid dynamics, electric charge transport via advection and conduction currents, and action of electric forces upon space charges in liquid. Problems with different thermodynamic phases (liquid and gaseous) and phase transitions, and with inhomogeneous and density-dependent electric permittivity and conductivity can also be simulated, as well as charge injection and recombination. Deformations and breakup of conductive vapor bubbles, bubble deformation due to electrostriction, dynamics of drops with different electric permittivity were simulated. Simulations show the great potential of the method especially for problems with free boundaries (systems with vapor bubbles and multiple components with different electric properties).