Experimental and numerical studies of droplet and particle formation in electrohydrodynamic atomization

Abstract

Electrohydrodynamic Atomization (EHDA) is an effective method to produce micro-droplets/particles in a controllable manner. In this paper, both experimental and numerical approaches are adopted to investigate the mechanism of various EHDA spray modes under different operating conditions. Especially, Computational Fluid Dynamics based numerical simulation is applied to investigate the Taylor cone-jet formation process. The numerical simulations solve the full Navier-Stokes equations for both liquid and gas phases, tracking the liquid / gas interface using a front tracking method, and taking into account the effects of electric stress on the interface. The operating parameters, e.g. the ring electric potential and surface charging density, are varied to study their effects on the Taylor Cone jet formation and the droplet size. The results show that the size of droplets / particles fabricated by the EHDA method can be controlled by adjusting the operating parameters.