Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-17T16:40:28.740Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Instability of a thermal boundary layer in a constant electric field

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2006

Robert J. Turnbull
Robert J. Turnbull
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The thermal boundary layer near a heated vertical plate in a poorly conducting liquid is subject to a horizontal d.c. electric field. If the electric field is strong enough, the boundary layer becomes unstable. In this paper a theory is developed to predict the onset of this instability. Experiments measuring the threshold voltage for instability are compared with the theoretical predictions. Other experiments are reported which determine the effect of this instability on the heat transferred from the heated plate.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , 31 May 1971 , pp. 231 - 239
Copyright
© 1971 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baboi, N. F., Baloga, M. K. & Semenov, K. N. 1965 The influence of electric fields on heat transfer in liquids and gases. Elektronnaya Obrabotka Materialov, no. 1, 57.Google Scholar
Ede, A. J. 1967 Advances in free convection. In Advances in Heat Transfer (ed. T. R. Irvine), vol. 4, 1. Academic.
Grosu, F. P. & Bologa, M. K. 1968 Similarity criteria for convection heat exchange in an electric field. Elektronnaya Obrabotka Materialov, no. 2, 50.Google Scholar
Kronig, R. & Schwarz, N. 1949 On the theory of heat transfer from a wire in an electric field. Appl. Sci. Res. A 1, 35.Google Scholar
Lykoudis, P. S. & Yu, C. P. 1963 The influence of electrostrictive forces in natural thermal convection Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 6, 853.Google Scholar
Melcher, J. R. 1961 Electrohydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic surface waves and instabilities Phys. Fluids, 4, 11.Google Scholar
Melcher, J. R. & Firebaugh, M. S. 1967 Travelling-wave bulk electro-convection induces across a temperature gradient Phys. Fluids, 11, 2597.Google Scholar
Rayleigh, Lord 1916 On convective currents in a horizontal layer of fluid when the higher temperature is on the underside Phil. Mag. 32, 529.Google Scholar
Squire, H. B. 1938 In Modern Development in Fluid Dynamics, p. 641. Oxford University Press.
Turnbull, R. J. 1967 Electroconvective instability with a stabilizing temperature gradient. Ph.D. thesis. Electrical Engineering Dept., M.I.T.
Turnbull, R. J. 1968a Electroconvective instability with a stabilizing temperature gradient. I. Theory Phys. Fluids, 11, 2588.Google Scholar
Turnbull, R. J. 1968b Electroconvective instability with a stabilizing temperature gradient. II. Experimental results Phys. Fluids, 11, 2597.Google Scholar
Turnbull, R. J. 1969 Free convection from a heated vertical plate in a direct-current electrical field Phys. Fluids, 12, 2255.Google Scholar