Numerical simulation of two-phase electrohydrodynamic of stable Taylor cone–jet using a volume-of-fluid approach

Abstract

A computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation is presented for numerical modeling of the transient jet flow leaving a nozzle under an electrostatic field effect. Our CFD electrohydrodynamic simulations are based on the Taylor–Melcher leaky-dielectric model, and the volume-of-fluid scheme and the advection of the liquid free surface are performed using Youngs’ algorithm. The numerical simulation solves the full Navier–Stokes equations for both liquid and ambient air near the nozzle tip phases. At the free surface, both the surface tension and the electrical stress due to surface charging and the applied electric field are taken into account. The main simplification assumed in this scheme is that all the free electrical charges are distributed over the interface. The formations of the Taylor cone and liquid jet are simulated and compared with other researchers experimental results with reasonable agreement.