Stochastic Modeling of Electrohydrodynamically Enhanced Drag in One-Way and Fully Coupled Turbulent Poiseuille and Couette Flow

Abstract

Joint predictive modeling of hydrodynamics and electrokinetics is a standing numerical challenge but crucial for various applications in electrochemistry and power engineering. The present lack in modeling of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) turbulent flows lies in the treatment of small-scale processes and scale interactions. To overcome these limitations, a stochastic one-dimensional turbulence (ODT) model is utilized. The model aims to resolve all scales of the flow, but only on a notional line-of-sight, modeling turbulent advection by a stochastically sampled sequence of eddy events that punctuate deterministic molecular diffusive advancement. In this study, two canonical flow configurations are investigated that address different coupling strategies and flow physics. First, EHD effects in a variable-density vertical pipe flow of an ideal gas with an inner concentric electrode are investigated with a one-way coupled model formulation. Electric fields are generated by means of a corona discharge and the corresponding effect of a fixed ionic charge density field. Second, in order to reduce physical complexity, EHD effects the turbulent boundary layers in plane Couette flow of an isothermal univalent ionic liquid are investigated with a fully coupled model formulation. Both application cases demonstrate that ODT has predictive capabilities due to multiscale resolution of transport processes. Present results suggest that more expensive fully than one-way coupling of electrokinetics is crucial when charge relaxation times are significantly larger than the mean advection time scale.