Barrier effect, blocking effect, and interference effect of electrohydrodynamic heat transfer enhancement in rectangular channels

This study investigates the heat transfer enhancement by electrohydrodynamic (EHD) in a rectangular channel with various geometric and operational parameters in a wide N_EHD range of 0.4-5. Here, N_EHD is a dimensionless number, describing the ratio of electrostatic, inertial, and viscous forces. Two working regimes in EHD are identified: inertial and electrostatic regimes. The results show that the barrier effect exists only in the inertial regime; however, the interference effect occurs in the electrostatic regime. The barrier effect relies heavily on N_EHD rather than the dimensionless distance between electrodes l^* and the dimensionless channel width H^* because the thermal boundary layer cannot be disturbed sufficiently by a small electrostatic force; however, the interference effect depends on l^* and H^* rather than N_EHD due to the stagnant area initiated only by a strong interaction between adjacent emitting electrodes. A new effect, the “blocking effect,” is found in the electrostatic regime. The mechanism of the blocking effect is different from that of the barrier and interference effects. The blocking effect is initiated by a giant vortex, which “blocks” the airflow flowing toward the downstream channel. The average Nusselt number of channels can be reduced by at least 8%, 13%, and 5% for the barrier, interference, and blocking effects, respectively. A working spectrum of EHD-induced heat transfer enhancement in a rectangular channel is provided under N_EHD and channel area coupling conditions. We believe the spectrum can help in designing EHD-induced heat transfer enhancement because it provides theoretical guidance for avoiding the three effects. © 2023 Author(s).