Numerical Analysis of Electroconvection in Cross-flow with unipolar charge injection

Electroconvection driven by unipolar charge injection in the presence of cross-flow between two parallel electrodes is investigated in a numerical study. The two-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann method with a fast Poisson solver is used to resolve the spatiotemporal distribution of flow field, electric field, and charge density. Couette and Poiseuille cross-flows are applied to the solutions with established electroconvective vortices. Increasing cross-flow velocity deforms the vortices and eventually suppresses them when threshold values of velocities are reached. At intermediate flow velocities, partial suppression of the vortices leads to the reduction in electroconvection. This behavior is parameterized by a nondimensional parameter, Y—a ratio of the electrical forcing term to the viscous term in the Navier-Stokes equations. For high values of Y, the electric force dominates the flow, while for values below the critical threshold, the electric force influence is negligible and the flow is dominated by the shear.

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Recommended citation: Yifei Guan, and Igor Novosselov. “Numerical analysis of electroconvection in cross-flow with unipolar charge injection.” Physical Review Fluids 4, no. 10 (2019): 103701.