Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-g96k6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-10T18:04:31.285Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A three-dimensional small-deformation theory for electrohydrodynamics of dielectric drops

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2021

Debasish Das*
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA, UK
David Saintillan
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
*
Email address for correspondence: debasish.das@strath.ac.uk

Abstract

Electrohydrodynamics of drops is a classic fluid mechanical problem where deformations and microscale flows are generated by application of an external electric field. In weak fields, electric stresses acting on the drop surface drive quadrupolar flows inside and outside and cause the drop to adopt a steady axisymmetric shape. This phenomenon is best explained by the leaky-dielectric model under the premise that a net surface charge is present at the interface while the bulk fluids are electroneutral. In the case of dielectric drops, increasing the electric field beyond a critical value can cause the drop to start rotating spontaneously and assume a steady tilted shape. This symmetry-breaking phenomenon, called Quincke rotation, arises due to the action of the interfacial electric torque countering the viscous torque on the drop, giving rise to steady rotation in sufficiently strong fields. Here, we present a small-deformation theory for the electrohydrodynamics of dielectric drops for the complete Melcher–Taylor leaky-dielectric model in three dimensions. Our theory is valid in the limits of strong capillary forces and highly viscous drops and is able to capture the transition to Quincke rotation. A coupled set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations for the induced dipole moments and shape functions are derived whose solution matches well with experimental results in the appropriate small-deformation regime. Retention of both the straining and rotational components of the flow in the governing equation for charge transport enables us to perform a linear stability analysis and derive a criterion for the applied electric field strength that must be overcome for the onset of Quincke rotation of a viscous drop.

Information

Type
JFM Papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press.
Figure 0

Figure 1. Problem definition. (a) Prolate- and (b) oblate-shaped drops in the Taylor regime. Quadrupolar flow fields inside and outside the drop advect charges (depicted as $+$ and $-$ symbols) from equator to poles in the prolate case and from poles to equator in the oblate case. Here $V^{\pm }$ denote the exterior and interior domains, respectively, and $(\epsilon ^\pm , \sigma ^\pm ,\mu ^\pm )$ are the corresponding dielectric permittivities, electric conductivities and dynamic viscosities. (c) Tilted drop in the Quincke regime with both quadrupolar and rotational flow fields present. Here $L$ and $B$ denote the longest and shortest dimensions of the drop, while $\phi ^*$ is the angle between the direction of maximum deformation and the $x$-axis. The electric field is applied along the $y$-axis.

Figure 1

Table 1. Material properties used herein corresponding to the experiments of Salipante & Vlahovska (2010). Here $\epsilon _0=8.8542 \times 10^{-12}\ \text {F}\ \textrm {m}^{-1}$ denotes the permittivity of vacuum.

Figure 2

Figure 2. Effect of straining flows. (a) Tilt and (b) deformation parameter for two different datasets matching the experiments of Salipante & Vlahovska (2010). Red and blue colours correspond to drop sizes and viscosity ratios $(a_d,\lambda )=(0.9\ \textrm {mm},\ 14.1)$ and $(a_d,\lambda )=(0.7\ \textrm {mm},\ 1.41)$, respectively. Markers are experimental results, while solid and dashed lines are predictions from theory with both straining and rotational flows ($S+R$) and only rotational flow ($R$), respectively. Inclusion of straining flows is observed to increase the critical electric field for the onset of rotation, in good agreement with experimental results. (c) Flow assessment parameter $\zeta$ shows the relative magnitude of straining and rotational flows as a function of electric field strength for the same two drops in the Taylor and Quincke regimes. Movies showing the flow fields and drop shapes for these two cases are provided in the supplementary material accompanying this article.

Figure 3

Figure 3. Tilt angle for drops of various sizes $a_d$ and viscosity ratios (a) $\lambda = 14.1$, (b) $\lambda = 1.41$ and (c) $\lambda = 0.14$. Lines are predictions from theory, which includes both straining and rotational components of the flow, as presented in § 5.2. Squares, diamonds, triangles and circles are experimental results of Salipante & Vlahovska (2010). The critical electric field for the onset of Quincke rotation increases with a decrease in viscosity ratio and is well captured by the theory.

Figure 4

Figure 4. Critical electric field versus (a) drop radius and (b) viscosity ratio. The critical field $E_c$ for a drop is normalized by the critical value $E_{c,s}$ for a rigid spherical particle. Lines are predictions from the theory including straining flow, while markers are experimental results of Salipante & Vlahovska (2010). The critical field obtained from the linear stability analysis gives the same result as the numerical solutions; hence, it is not shown here for brevity.

Das and Saintillan supplementary movie 1

See pdf file for movie caption

Download Das and Saintillan supplementary movie 1(Video)
Video 5.5 MB

Das and Saintillan supplementary movie 2

See pdf file for movie caption

Download Das and Saintillan supplementary movie 2(Video)
Video 6.7 MB
Supplementary material: PDF

Das and Saintillan supplementary material

Captions for movies 1-2

Download Das and Saintillan supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 113.1 KB
Supplementary material: File

Das and Saintillan supplementary material

Supplementary data file

Download Das and Saintillan supplementary material(File)
File 2.4 KB