Journal of Electrostatics 87 (2017) 51e63

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Journal of Electrostatics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/elstat

Numerical investigation of using micropolar fluid model for EHD flow

through a smooth channel
Hesam Moayedi a, Nima Amanifard a, *, Hamed Mohaddes Deylami b, Farid Dolati a
a
Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran
b
Faculty of Technology and Engineering, East of Guilan, University of Guilan, Rudsar, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper, a numerical method is presented to investigate the Electrohydrodynamic effect using
Received 6 November 2016 micropolar fluid model. The EHD flow for the forced convection heat transfer in a smooth channel is
Received in revised form simulated. The computed results were compared with the fully turbulent flow approach. It is found that
19 March 2017
the micropolar model can be used to simulate the hydraulically laminar flow. In addition, the heat
Accepted 21 March 2017
transfer enhancement has the same efficiency for both the micropolar and the k-ε models. The change of
the applied voltage and the Reynolds number caused various deviations of the results obtained from the
two approaches up to a maximum of 20.79%, and a minimum of 0.03%.
Keywords:
Electrohydrodynamic
© 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Heat transfer
Micropolar fluid
Numerical simulation

1. Introduction
The active methods have been widely used for enhanced heat
transfer in recent years. In the cross section of the channels,
inducing a secondary flow can be used as active method for the
convective heat transfer enhancement. The secondary flow field
may be generated by ion-drag flows or corona discharges. Elec-
trohydrodynamic (EHD) as an active technique deals with the in-
teractions between electrical and flow field. When a high voltage is
applied to a sharp electrode, the air becomes ionized and the ions
are attracted toward the collector. The transmission of the injected
ions from the sharp electrode (emitter) toward the collector elec-
trode, causes the ions transfer their momentum to the neutral
molecules by collision. As a result, a bulk flow of ionized air mol-
ecules is generated known as corona wind. The corona wind dis-
turbs the boundary layer on the surface and can enhance the heat
transfer rate between the surface and its ambient air.
The EHD technique has been investigated in various cases. Most
of the famous studies are experimental [1e4] or numerical based
on the turbulence models [5e13]. Leonard et al. [1] and Davidson
and Shaughnessy [2] showed that the LDA measurements could not
reliably use near the wire due to the seeds deviations toward the
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: namanif@guilan.ac.ir (N. Amanifard).
ground collectors. Leonard et al. [1] measured mean velocity and
turbulent intensity of the streamwise for positive and negative
discharge. They founded that there was no variation in the mean
velocity profile and an increase in turbulence intensity for negative
discharge. In addition, for positive discharge, they reported that the
turbulence intensity decreases at the center of the channel, and
increases in the wall region. Davidson and Shaughnessy [2] inves-
tigated a laminar-turbulent transitional flow interacting with the
EHD-induced flow by a negative discharge corona. They showed
that there was a remarkable increase in flow fluctuations in the
presence of the negative corona. Kallio and Stock [4] used LDA to
study the effect of main parameters on the fluid velocity. Although
LDA allows measurements to be made in the wire section (where it
is a vital region to understand the flow field), the data measured are
for the velocity of the seed particles, but not for the velocity of the
fluid field. The seeds were aerosol droplets (usually about 1e6 mm
in diameter) behaving like the pollutant particles to be separated in
electrostatic precipitators (ESPs). As a consequence, the fluid ve-
locity estimation is questionable. Also, they revealed that charac-
teristics of turbulence dependent on the intensity of the
undisturbed EHD flows.
One of the fundamental numerical efforts for the flow field in
wire-channel were performed by Soldati and Banerjee [5]. They
conducted a numerical simulation using direct numerical simula-
tion (DNS). Their study was based on superimposing the hydro-
dynamic turbulence of the main flow and turbulence induced by

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.elstat.2017.03.006
0304-3886/© 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.
52 H. Moayedi et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 87 (2017) 51e63

electric field excitations. found that the translational velocity across the boundary layer and
However, DNS seems to be a robust modeling technique for the the magnitude of the micro rotation at the wall decrease when the
turbulent flow field and the instantaneous flow structure, but magnetic field and Prandtl number increase. All the above
clearly it is expensive and time consuming cost of computations. mentioned cases fortify the probability of using the micropolar
Most of the EHD studies have been used the turbulence models approach to simulate the EHD laminar flows.
[6e13]. Moreover, Molki and Damronglerd [11] conducted the ne- The lack of using an appropriate approach for the fluid motion in
cessity of using a turbulence model for numerical simulation in the EHD field, particularly in low Reynolds number in the laminar
internal duct flows even with a Reynolds number in the laminar duct flows, and the lack of the turbulent flow concepts such as the
range. They applied both laminar and turbulent approaches and the unsteadiness and irregularity become the main reason to test the
results were compared with the Large Eddy Simulation (LES). In micropolar fluid model in the current work. To evaluate and
their computations, they used the experimental data of the corona compare the results, the turbulent k-ε model is used as well. To
current and voltage in order to conduct a validation for their results. conclude the computations a deep concern with changes of the
They reported that the laminar approach fails in the prediction of material parameter ku is conducted to gain a more accurate model
the flow fields induced by electric body force. This conclusion be- for the EHD flow in the laminar regime through the smooth
comes the main question of the current study “why the EHD flows channel.
have to be simulated by fully turbulent models, while main flow in
the EHD seems to be hydraulically laminar?” In this way, the anti- 2. Governing equations
symmetric stress approach and consequently the micropolar fluids,
and particularly the micropolar fluids model can be the alternative 2.1. Electric field equations
simulation approach [14].
Extensive uses of micropolar fluid theory introduced in the text The governing equations for the EHD force per unit volume Fe
books of Lukaszewicz [15] and Eringen [16]. They revealed that as generated by an electric field E can be expressed as:
the fluids composed of randomly oriented molecules, each volume
 
fluid element has the translation and rotation motions. The physical ! ! 1! 1 !2 vε
Fe ¼ rc E  E Vε þ V E r (1)
analysis of these fluids has shown several significant phenomena 2 2 vr
that cannot be found in Newtonian fluids model. The theory of
The terms on the right side of Eq. (1) represents the Coulomb,
micropolar includes the effects of local rotary inertia and the couple
Electrostrictive and Electrophoretic forces, respectively. In this
stresses as a mathematical model for the non-Newtonian behavior
study, electric permittivity will be assumed to be constant. Thus,
in specific cases [17]. The concept of micropolar fluids deals with a
the Electrostrictive and Electrophoretic forces become negligible,
series of fluids that show certain microscopic effects. This effects
and the electric body force is simplified to the Coulomb force.
arising from the local structure and the micro motions of the fluid
The EHD governing equations can be written as below:
elements. These fluids include dilute suspensions of rigid macro-
Poisson's equation:
molecules along with exclusive motions that support stress in
which body moments are affected by spin inertia [18]. As a result, rc
the essential part of a model for fluid motion including rotating V2 V ¼  (2)
εs
micro components may lead to micropolar theory. The symmetry
stress tensor is obtained by applying conservation of angular mo- Conservation of space charge density:
mentum to an infinitesimal material element. As mentioned before,
vrc !
in the presence of an electric or a magnetic field, the symmetry þ V: j ¼ 0 (3)
vt
stress tensor becomes a questionable approach [19]. Kumar et al.
[20] analytically investigated the fully developed laminar free- The electric field and current density:
convection flow of the micropolar-viscous fluids in a vertical !
channel. The results showed that the significant effect of fluid pa- E ¼ VV (4)
rameters on the velocity and the temperature profiles. Most
recently, the investigations of the motion of incompressible the ! ! !
j ¼ rc b E þ rc u þ De Vrc (5)
micropolar fluid through the channels, and over flat plates under
the magnetic field were studied [21e27]. Swapna et al. [21] studied The three terms on the right hand side of Eq. (5) are drift,
the effect of the thermal radiation and the transverse magnetic field convection and the diffusion of electric charges, respectively. The
on the mixed convection flow of the micropolar fluid towards a !
charge convection term in Eq. (5), rc u is about two orders of
stagnation point on a permeable vertical plate with constant suc- !
magnitude smaller than ions' drifting term, rc b E [28]. It should be
tion using finite element method. The heat and mass transfer of a
noted that the diffusion of electric charges, De Vrc is negligible in
perfect conducting the micropolar fluid in the magnetic hydrody-
macro-scale ionic flows, but it is remarkable in micro-scales [29].
namic (MHD) natural convection over an infinite vertical surface is
Based on these assumptions, the conservation of the space
studied by Ezzat et al. [22]. Eldabe et al. [23] studied the heat ab-
charge density is reconstructed as follows:
sorption and chemical reaction effects on the peristaltic motion of
the micropolar fluid through a porous medium in a symmetric vrc
channel in the presence of magnetic field with low Reynolds þ V:ðrc bVVÞ ¼ 0 (6)
vt
number. Sandeep and Sulochana [26] investigated the influence of
!
non-uniform heat source/sink, mass transfer and chemical reaction The Coulomb force rc E acts as a source term in the momentum
on an unsteady mixed convection boundary layer flow of the equations.
magneto-micropolar fluid past a stretching/shrinking sheet in the
presence of viscous dissipation. The influence of chemical reaction 2.2. Governing equations of micropolar fluid
and thermal radiation on the MHD micropolar flow over a vertical
moving the porous plate in the porous medium with the heat The micropolar fluid equations by assuming an unsteady,
generation was studied by Mohamed and Abo-Dahab [27] They laminar, and the incompressible flow affected by EHD-induced
 H. Moayedi et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 87 (2017) 51e63 53

Table 1 2.3. Governing equations of the standard k-ε turbulent model

Properties of fluid.

Property Value The standard k-ε turbulent model is commonly used to study
cp 1006:43J=kg,k
the EHD flows [6,10].
K 0:0242W=m,k Momentum:
b 2  104 m2 =V,s " !#
εs 8:85  1012 F=m vðrui Þ v   vp v vui vuj
m 1:789  105 kg=m,s
þ rui uj ¼  þ ðm þ m t Þ þ þ Fei
vt vxj vxi vxj vxj vxi
r 2  104 kg=m3
(11)
Energy:
  !
v v v cp mt vT
ðreÞ þ ½u ðre þ pÞ ¼ Kþ (12)
vt vxi i vxj Prt vxj

In the standard k-ε turbulent model, the turbulent viscosity mt is

computed by the k and ε as follows:
Fig. 1. A schematic view of the computational domain and geometric parameters.
k2
mt ¼ rCm (13)
ε
force, are derived by Eringen [16] with a 2-D as follows:
Continuity: where Cm is an empirical coefficient whose value is usually
considered to be 0.09 [31].
The model constants have the following default values [31].
vr vðrui Þ
þ ¼0 (7)
vt vxi C1ε ¼ 1:44 C2ε ¼ 1:92 sk ¼ 1 sε ¼ 1:3 Prt ¼ 0:85
Momentum: It should be noted that the continuity equation for flow equation
in the k-ε model is such as Eq. (8). In addition, the properties of the
! ! fluid are presented in Table 1.
vðrui Þ v   vp v2 ui vuk
þ rui uj ¼  þ ðm þ ku Þ þ ku εijk
vt vxj vxi vxj vxj vxj 3. Computational geometry
þ Fei
For the current numerical analysis, a 2-D channel is considered
(8)
with a wire electrode which is located at the centerline and charged
Angular momentum: by a high voltage. The schematic geometry of the channel is shown
in Fig. 1.
" # ! !
vðrui Þ v   vuk v2 ui
j þ rui uj ¼ 2ku ui þ ku εijk þg 4. Boundary conditions
vt vxj vxj vxj vxj
(9) 4.1. Flow

Energy: The list of boundary conditions is presented in Table 2. The

details of the boundary conditions are explained in the following
! section.
v v v vT
ðreÞ þ ½u ðre þ pÞ ¼ K (10)
vt vxi i vxj vxj 4.2. Charge density

where j ¼ Lc 2 is the micro-inertia density, Lc ¼ 2H is the charac- The boundary conditions for the potential are straightforward: a
teristic length, ku is a material parameter and g ¼ ðm þ ku =2Þj is the given positive DC potential of V0 at the wire electrode and zero at
micro rotation viscosity [14,30]. the grounded plates. But, the proper boundary conditions to

Table 2
Boundary conditions.

Surfaces Airflow Temperature Electric potential Space charge density

Inlet ux ¼ U ∞ ; uy ¼ 0 T ¼ T∞ vV =vx ¼ 0 vrc =vx ¼ 0

x ¼ 0:105ðmÞ !
u ¼0
Outlet PGage ¼ 0 v2 T=vx2 ¼ 0 vV =vx ¼ 0 vrc =vx ¼ 0
x ¼ þ0:105ðmÞ !
u ¼0
Upper wall ux ¼ uy ¼ 0 00
q ¼0 V ¼0 vrc =vy ¼ 0
y ¼ þ0:03ðmÞ !
u ¼0
Lower wall ux ¼ uy ¼ 0 00
q ¼ cte V ¼0 vrc =vy ¼ 0
y ¼ 0:03ðmÞ !
u ¼0
Wire ux ¼ uy ¼ 0 00
q ¼0 V ¼ V0 rc ¼ rc0
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi !
x2 þ y2 ¼ 0:0001ðmÞ u ¼0
54 H. Moayedi et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 87 (2017) 51e63

boundary conditions at the inlet boundary must be determined for

the turbulence kinetic energy (k) and the turbulence dissipation
rate (ε) as follows [31]:

3
k ¼ ðIt U∞ Þ2 (15)
2

3 =
2
3= k
ε ¼ Cm 4
(16)
l

where It is the turbulence intensity and l is the turbulence length

scale as following:

It ¼ 0:16ðReÞ1 8
=
(17)
Fig. 2. Flow-chart of the numerical procedure.
l ¼ 0:07Lc (18)

determine the electric charge density are not so easy. The Kaptzov
hypothesis [32] proposed a boundary condition for the space
charge density. This theory clarified that the electric field increases
proportionally to the applied voltage below the corona onset, but it
maintains constant after the corona is initiated. Peek's formula
determines the onset of the electric field on the wire electrode as
following [33]:
 
0:308
E0 ¼ 3:1  106 1 þ pffiffiffi
r source characteristics are an advantage in the implementation of
where r (cm) is the radius of the wire electrode.
At the wire surface, the rc0 cannot be directly determined by
Kaptsov's condition. Fig. 2 shows a flow chart for finding of rc0 .
4.3. k-ε model
As mentioned above, the k-ε model has been widely used in the
previous studies. Therefore, in the current study the appropriate
The zero gradient is set for the k and the ε at the outlet
boundary.
5. Numerical solution
5.1. Numerical procedure
OpenFOAM is a flexible and efficient free source Computational
(14) Fluid Dynamics (CFD) package which is written in Cþþ. Its open-
any addition or modification.
A pressure-based solver was used along with the implicit
formulation of the discredited functions. Pressure and momentum
equations are decoupled by using the PISO algorithm [34]. For the
solution of the momentum, angular momentum, turbulence kinetic
energy, turbulence dissipation energy and the conservation of the
space charge density equations, smoothSolver are employed.
Symmetric Gauss-Seidel has been used as smoothSolver, which is
stronger than the standard Gauss-Seidel. In order to solve the

Table 3
Discretization schemes and solver parameters for OpenFOAM [35].

Type Parameters Value Description

Time schemes ddtSchemes Euler First order, bounded, implicit

Interpolation schemes interpolationSchemes Linear Linear interpolation (central differencing).
Surface normal gradientschemes snGradSchemes corrected Explicit non-orthogonal correction.
Gradient schemes gradSchemes Gauss linear Second order, Gaussian integration.
Laplacian schemes laplacianSchemes Gauss linear orthogonal Second order, unbounded.
U Solvers solver smoothSolver Second order, unbounded.
smoother symGaussSeidel
tolerance 1e-08
u Solvers solver smoothSolver Second order, unbounded.
smoother symGaussSeidel
tolerance 1e-08
k Solvers solver smoothSolver Second order, unbounded.
smoother symGaussSeidel
tolerance 1e-08
ε Solvers solver smoothSolver Second order, unbounded.
smoother symGaussSeidel
tolerance 1e-08
p Solvers solver PCG Preconditioned conjugate gradient solver with
preconditioner DIC diagonal-based incomplete Cholesky preconditioner.
tolerance 1e-06
T Solvers solver PBiCG Preconditioned bi-conjugate gradient solver with
preconditioner DILU diagonal-based incomplete LU preconditioner.
tolerance 1e-07
V Solvers solver PCG Preconditioned conjugate gradient solver with
preconditioner DIC diagonal-based incomplete Cholesky preconditioner.
tolerance 1e-09
rc Solvers solver smoothSolver Second order, unbounded.
smoother symGaussSeidel
tolerance 1e-08
 H. Moayedi et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 87 (2017) 51e63 55

energy equation, PBiCG is used. PBiCG is a preconditioned bi-

conjugate gradient solver for anti-symmetric lduMatrices using a
run-time selectable preconditioner. DILU preconditioner which is a
simplified diagonal-based incomplete LU preconditioner for anti-
symmetric matrices was chosen. Then, the pressure and Poisson's
equation is solved by using PCG. PCG is a preconditioned conjugate
gradient solver for symmetric matrices. DIC preconditioner which
is a simplified diagonal-based incomplete Cholesky preconditioner
for symmetric matrices was selected [35]. The details of the solu-
tion set ups are indicated in Table 3.

5.2. Mesh generation

A non-uniform mesh was generated using GAMBIT 2.4 software

Fig. 3. A schematic view of 2D model domain grid distribution. (a) Near the wire, (b)
near the wall.
as shown in Fig. 3. The mesh is clustered near the channel walls and
in the vicinity of the emitting electrode.
The temperature distribution on the bottom wall of the channel
for different grid densities is depicted in Fig. 4. It can be observed
that there is no change in temperature distribution when the cells

Fig. 4. Grid independence test for temperature distribution (V0 ¼ 15 kV, Re ¼ 400).

Fig. 5. Electric field distribution on the grounded plate (V0 ¼ 18 kV, Re ¼ 0).
56 H. Moayedi et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 87 (2017) 51e63

Fig. 6. Current density on the grounded plate (V0 ¼ 18 kV, Re ¼ 0).

number exceeds 24470. Thus, the number of meshes is considered obtained by integrating the local heat transfer coefficient and given
24470 for numerical analysis. by the following equation:

ZL2
5.3. Data reduction 1
h¼ hx dx (21)
L
0
To evaluate the influence of the EHD-induced flow on the heat
transfer, the local heat transfer coefficient hx along the bottom wall The percentage difference between the average heat transfer
is calculated as follows [7]: coefficient along the bottom wall for the micropolar model and the
k-ε model is a benchmark for the accuracy of the micropolar model.
00
q
hx ¼ (19)
ðTx  Tin Þ hmp  hkε
% Difference ¼  100 (22)
hmp
where Tx is the local wall temperature.
The Reynolds number based on the characteristic length of the
channel is obtained by the following equation:

rU∞ Lc 6. Code validation

Re ¼ (20)
m
The computed results of the electric field, the current density
The average heat transfer coefficient along the bottom wall is and the electric field distribution on the grounded plate are

Fig. 7. Normalized pressure distribution on the wall (Re ¼ 0, V0 ¼ 15 kV ku =m ¼ 18).

 H. Moayedi et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 87 (2017) 51e63 57

compared with the semi-empirical Warburg's law and the experi- Table 4
mental data. A comparison of experimental, theoretical, and nu- The ratio of material parameter to dynamic viscosity (ku =m) for various sets of Re and
merical simulation are shown in Figs. 5 and 6. It can be seen that the V0.
numerical results have a good agreement with the experimental ku =m
data and the Warburg's law. The semi-empirical Warburg's law is Reynolds number
V0 ¼ 12:5 kV V0 ¼ 15 kV V0 ¼ 17:5 kV
explained by the following equations [36]:
400 6 14 26
800 3 12 20
1200 0.5 5.5 15
Eq ¼ E0 cos1:5 q (23) 1600 0.3 3 11
2000 0.175 1 7

Fig. 8. Airflow streamlines (Re ¼ 400, V0 ¼ 15 kV), (a) ku =m ¼ 0, (b) ku =m ¼ 1, (c) ku =m ¼ 7, (d) ku =m ¼ 14, (e) ku =m ¼ 21.
58 H. Moayedi et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 87 (2017) 51e63

Fig. 9. Airflow streamlines (Re ¼ 1200), (a) micropolar model (b) k-ε model.

Fig. 10. Airflow streamlines (V0 ¼ 15 kV), (a) micropolar model (b) k-ε model.
 H. Moayedi et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 87 (2017) 51e63 59

Fig. 11. The heat transfer enhancement on the bottom wall for (a) V0 ¼ 12.5 kV, (b) V0 ¼ 15 kV, (c) V0 ¼ 17.5 kV.
60 H. Moayedi et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 87 (2017) 51e63

Fig. 12. The heat transfer enhancement on the bottom wall for (a) Re ¼ 400, (b) Re ¼ 800, (c) Re ¼ 1600.
 H. Moayedi et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 87 (2017) 51e63
Table 5
The difference between the average heat transfer coefficient along the bottom wall
for the micropolar model and the k-ε model for various sets of Re and V0.
Difference (%)
Reynolds number
V0 ¼ 12:5 kV V0 ¼ 15 kV V0 ¼ 17:5 kV
400 1.27 19.26 20.79
800 2.79 9.48 20.47
1200 3.05 2.46 12.36
1600 2.82 2.43 0.03
2000 4.76 7.1 15.92
Jq ¼ J0 cos4 q (24)
where q is the angle of the wire regarding normal axis.
In addition, to validate the fluid flow computations, Fig. 7 shows
the normalized pressure distribution on the top and bottom walls
of the channel. In this figure, the results of the micropolar model
and the k-ε turbulent model are compared with the result of the
Yamamoto and Velkoff [37]. According to Fig. 7, there is an agree-
ment between the micropolar fluid model and the experimental
results.
7. Result and discussion
The results of the micropolar model are compared with the
k-ε turbulent model for flows with Stoke's tensor behavior in
order to the assessment of the results. The computations are
conducted for a set of Reynolds numbers and a range of applied
voltage from 12.5 kV to 17.5 kV. For any applied voltage, five
Reynolds number are considered. According to the literature re-
view, the laminar Navier-Stokes approach for solving the
EHD flow equations are not appropriate to predict the Nusselt
number and the friction factor [11]. So, the k-ε turbulent
approach which has been widely used, and the micropolar model
as an alternative approach are studied through the computations.
To achieve the adequate results for the micropolar model,
different material parameter (ku ) is examined. To compare the
results of the micropolar model with the k-ε, the ratio hx-EHD/hx-
noEHD witch is called the enhancement factor was chosen as the
criteria. The enhancement factor is defined as the ratio of the
local heat transfer affected by electric field to without the electric
field.
7.1. Effect of material parameter on flow field
The ratio of the material parameter to the dynamic viscosity
(ku =m) has a key role in using the micropolar model approach.
This parameter may completely depend on the flow and the EHD
forces. In this regard, a range of changes was set for the com-
putations at Re ¼ 400, and V0 ¼ 15 kV. The streamlines were
shown in Fig. 8. To find the adequate value of the material
parameter, a trial and error procedure have been done for each
set of Re and V0.
In order to find the adequate ku =m, the flow through a simple
parallel plate channel contains a single corona wire is compared
with those obtained by Farnoosh and Adamiak [8]. They reported
that the symmetric flow with two vortices respected to the center
plane. However, a robust numerical prediction of the flow pattern
and the heat transfer enhancement depend on the accurate pre-
diction of the flow field and the body forces. As it is predictable, the
ku =m depend on the Reynolds number and electrical applied
voltage. According to Fig. 8, by increasing ku =m the flow has more
tendency to rotate and the symmetric vortices pattern is achieved.
61
The computations for other sets of Reynolds number and applied
voltage are conducted to gain the adequate ku =m, and the results are
classified in Table 4.
7.2. Comparing results of micropolar and k-ε models
To compare the quality and the accuracy of the k-ε and micro-
polar models, the streamlines are shown in Figs. 9 and 10. The
similar patterns are observed for both models, which is the key
criteria of the current work for further results.
According to Figs. 9 and 10, the upstream vortices have the same
pattern for both models, but the downstream vortices seem to have
different sizes. The difference between two models may be due to
the factors such as using a fully turbulence approach in the range of
laminar flow, and the applied particular model i.e. k-ε, or an effi-
cient choice of the material parameters for the micropolar model.
Fig. 11 depicts the hx-EHD/hx-noEHD along the bottom wall of the
channel for different Reynolds numbers and the applied voltages.
The results show that the heat transfer enhancement has the
same efficiency for both approaches. As a result, this indicates that
the micropolar model can be an efficient candidate to predict the
flow characteristics with the appropriate accuracy, particularly in
the hydraulically laminar regimes. In order to clarify the compari-
son between the two approaches, some selected results of Fig. 11
are highlighted in Fig. 12. Moreover, Table 5 presents a brief com-
parison of the two models results with various sets of Re and V0.
The maximum and the minimum discrepancy of the averaged heat
transfer enhancement are 20.79% and 0.03%, respectively. As it is
apparent, the discrepancy between two models increases by
enhancing applied voltage. On the other hand, at low applied
voltages, the results of the two models tend to have more
conformity.
8. Conclusions
A numerical simulation has been conducted to study a new
approach for the Electrohydrodynamic phenomenon using the
micropolar fluids model through a smooth channel in a hydrauli-
cally laminar regime. It includes the determination of the electrical
conditions (electric field and space charge), and the flow pattern of
the EHD enhanced heat transfer. In this study, the results of the
micropolar model have been compared with the results of the k-ε
turbulence model which has been commonly used for EHD
modeling.
In conclusion, the following achievements are highlighted:
 The ratio of the material parameter to the dynamic viscosity
(ku =m) depends on the Reynolds number and the applied
voltage. The adequate ku =m can be achieved when the two main
vortices become symmetric with respect to the wire longitudi-
nal position. Also, the heat transfer enhancement has the same
efficiency for both the micropolar and the k-ε models.
 The change of the applied voltage and the Reynolds number
caused various deviations of the results obtained from the two
approaches up to a maximum of 20.79%, and a minimum of
0.03%. These alternative deviations may highly relate to the er-
rors of using the fully turbulent approach as well as an appro-
priate choice for the ku =m.
 The modeled results indicated that the micropolar fluid model
sometimes can be better than standard k-ε model compared
with experimental evidence.
 As the final conclusion, the micropolar model can be used to
simulate the hydraulically laminar flow in which the flow is not
fully turbulent and the necessity of a partly turbulent model is
important.
62 H. Moayedi et al. / Journal of Electrostatics 87 (2017) 51e63

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