Numerical modeling of the effect of number of electrodes on natural convection in an EHD fluid

Numerical modeling of the electrohydrodynamic effect on natural convection in enclosures is investigated. The interactions between electric field, flow field, and temperature field are analyzed by using the computational fluid dynamics technique. Flow pattern and temperature distribution are substantially affected by the voltage supplied at the wire electrodes, especially at low Rayleigh number. It can be concluded that the fluid velocity and heat transfer coefficient in the presence of an electric field are significantly increased with when a large number of electrodes is used. Surprisingly, a minimum value of augmented heat transfer occurs with an intermediate number of electrodes. The optimized condition between the aspect ratio of an enclosure and number of electrodes which leads to maximum heat transfer enhancement is expressed in terms of the parameters concerned.