Effect of Electric Field Modulation on The Onset of Electroconvection in a Couple Stress Fluid

Abstract

The problem of a convectional instability in a horizontal dielectric fluid layer with electric field modulation under couple stress fluid is examined. The horizontal dielectric upper boundary fluid layer is cooled, and the lower boundary is subjected to an isothermal boundary condition. The regular perturbation method based on the small magnitude of modulation is used to compute the critical Rayleigh number and the corresponding wavenumber. The solidity of the system is the characterised by a correction Rayleigh number, which is computed as a function of thermal, electric, and couple stress parameters and the frequency of electric field modulation. Some of the known findings are retrieved as specific cases in this study. It is demonstrated that the onset of the convection may be advanced or delayed by the proper regulation of different regulation parameters. The outcomes of this study have potential implications for the control of electroconvection with a time-dependent electric field.

Keywords

• convection
• couple stresses
• dielectric fluid
• electric field
• modulation