Experimental Study of EHD Flows in Symmetric Electrode System in Wide Range of Low-voltage Conductivities
I. Ashikhmin, Y. K. Stishkov, and Y. Donskov
REC "Electrophysics", Department of Physics, St. Petersburg State University, Russia
Abstract- The paper presents the results of an experimental study of electrohydrodynamic flows in the symmetric wire-wire electrode system placed in a cell with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). PDMS was doped with butanol, which causes the original conductivity of the fluid to grow by five orders of magnitude. The effects of impurities on the structure of emerging flows and the current-voltage characteristics are described. There exists a range of butanol concentration in the system, where the through flow occurs, which can be used for pumping a liquid. At lower values of admixture concentration, the arising EHD flows are highly unstable. At higher concentrations, the EHD flows become symmetric, so the through flow weakens and symmetric 4-vortex flow structure emerges.
Keywords-EHD flow, PIV, EHD pump, injection charge formationy