Numerical Study on Formation of Liquid Flow Emerging from a Capillary Emitter due to Electric Potential Effects

Electrospray is a branch of the scientific area of electrohydrodynamics which is based on electrical charging of liquids. The electrospray governing equations are a combination of hydrodynamic and electrostatic equations to which the addition of liquid breakup process escalates their complexity. This research work aims at developing a numerical solver to simulate the electrospray process in an emitter-disc configuration using Heptane as a working liquid under various electrical potentials. The simulation results in comparison with CFD and experimental data show good agreements both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results clearly have captured the formation of liquid flow profiles at the emitter exit demonstrating various electrospray modes. These modes initiate a microdripping mode at the lowest voltage, i.e. 3.5kV, prompting consecutively to spindle and pulsating cone-jet modes and ending in a stable cone-jet mode at the highest charging voltage, i.e. 6.5kV. In addition, it is also observed that the liquid cone and the vortex shaped within it would shrink as an increase in the electric potential is imposed. Although the increase in electric potential results in rise of the maximum magnitudes of electric field and velocity, the electric charge accumulation at all electric potential values occurs on the outer surface of the liquid flow implying its electrical conductivity.