Charge transport in Navier-Stokes flow

The physics of charge transport in steady Navier-Stokes flow is modeled using a novel algorithm that considers full coupling of the electrostatic and fluid equations and is applicable to arbitrary geometries. The hybrid boundary element method-method of characteristics approach is used to solve the nonlinear set of charge transport equations. The fluid problem, inclusive of electrohydrodynamic effects, is solved using a vorticity-stream function boundary-integral-equation formulation that does not require vorticity boundary conditions to be specified a priori. A rapid iterative solution is afforded by the use of influence coefficient matrices that simplify reanalysis and recalculation of fields to the product and sum of matrices. The algorithm is fairly robust, and convergence to less than 2% maximum change is attained, with underrelaxation, in less than 15 iterations for moderately high Reynold's numbers.<>