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A hydrodynamic bifurcation in electroosmotically-driven periodic flows
- Source :
- Phys. Rev. Fluids 3, 063702 (2018)
- Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- In this paper we report a novel inertial instability that occurs in electro-osmotically driven channel flows. We assume that the charge motion under the influence of an externally applied electric field is confined to a small vicinity of the channel walls that, effectively, drives a bulk flow through a prescribed slip velocity at the boundaries. Here, we study spatially-periodic wall velocity modulations in a two-dimensional straight channel numerically. At low slip velocities, the bulk flow consists of a set of vortices along each wall that are left-right symmetric, while at sufficiently high slip velocities, this flow loses its stability though a supercritical bifurcation. Surprisingly, the new flow state that bifurcates from a left-right symmetric base flow has a rather strong mean component along the channel, which is similar to pressure-driven velocity profiles. The instability sets in at rather small Reynolds numbers of about 20-30, and we discuss its potential applications in microfluidic devices.<br />Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures
- Subjects :
- Physics - Fluid Dynamics
Condensed Matter - Soft Condensed Matter
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- arXiv
- Journal :
- Phys. Rev. Fluids 3, 063702 (2018)
- Publication Type :
- Report
- Accession number :
- edsarx.1708.07470
- Document Type :
- Working Paper
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.3.063702