Heat Transfer Augmentation of Parallel Flows by Means of Electric Conduction Phenomenon in Macro- and Microscales

Electrohydrodynamic conduction phenomenon takes advantage of the electrical Coulomb force exerted on a dielectric liquid generated by externally applied electric field and dissociated charges from electrolytes. The electric conduction phenomenon can be applied to enhance or control mass transport and heat transfer in both terrestrial and microgravity environments with advantages of simplicity and no degradation of fluid properties for isothermal as well as nonisothermal liquids. This paper numerically studies the heat transfer augmentation of externally driven macro- and microscale parallel flows by means of electric conduction phenomenon. The electric conduction is generated via electrode pairs embedded against the channel wall to mainly enhance the heat transfer and not necessarily to pump the liquid. Two cases of Poiseuille and Couette parallel flows are considered where for the former, a constant external pressure gradient is applied along the channel and for the latter, the channel wall moves with a constant velocity. The electric field and electric body force distributions along with the resultant velocity fields are presented. The heat transfer enhancements are illustrated under various operating conditions for both macro- and microscales.