Numerical investigation of mass transfer enhancement through a porous body affected by electric field

ABSTRACT

The use of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) actuator has emerged recently as an effective mean to enhance mass transfer. However, the effect of nonthermal EHD-induced mass transfer in such porous body has remained unclear. Hence, in this paper, the mass transfer enhancement with EHD technique in a porous body is numerically investigated using the finite volume method. The flow patterns and the moisture content have been studied for different Reynolds numbers and the applied voltages. The numerical results show that the EHD flow field amplifies the mass transfer by a factor of 20.5 for Re = 200 and 2.12 for the Re = 4,000 and V = 28 kV in comparison to the case without the electric field.

KEYWORDS:

• Electrohydrodynamics
• mass transfer
• numerical investigation
• porous body