Weakly Nonlinear Analysis of Electroconvection in a Suspended Fluid Film

We describe the general phenomenon of `induced-charge electro-osmosis' (ICEO) -- the nonlinear electro-osmotic slip that occurs when an applied field acts on the ionic charge it {\sl induces} around a polarizable surface. Motivated by a simple physical picture, we calculate ICEO flows around conducting cylinders in steady (DC), oscillatory (AC), and suddenly-applied electric fields. This picture, and these systems, represent perhaps the clearest example of nonlinear electroki...

A new type of instability - electrokinetic instability - and an unusual transition to chaotic motion near a charge-selective surface was studied by numerical integration of the Nernst-Planck-Poisson-Stokes system and a weakly nonlinear analysis near the threshold of instability. Two kinds of initial conditions were considered: (a) white noise initial conditions to mimic "room disturbances" and subsequent natural evolution of the solution; (b) an artificial monochromatic ion d...

Nonlinear electrokinetic phenomena, where electrically driven fluid flows depend nonlinearly on the applied voltage, are commonly encountered in aqueous suspensions of colloidal particles. A prime example is the induced-charge electro-osmosis, driven by an electric field acting on diffuse charge induced near a polarizable surface. Nonlinear electrohydrodynamic flows also occur in non-polar fluids, driven by the electric field acting on space charge induced by conductivity gra...

We have observed that a rotating liquid soap film generates electricity when placed between two non-contact electrodes with a sufficiently large potential difference. In our experiments suspended liquid film (water + soap film) is formed on the surface of a circular frame, which is forced to rotate in the $x-y$ horizontal plane by a motor. This system is located at the center of two capacitor-like vertical plates to apply an external electric voltage difference in the $x-$dir...

Long-scale dynamic fluctuation phenomena in freely suspended films is analyzed. We consider isotropic films that, say, can be pulled from bulk smectic A liquid crystals. The key feature of such objects is possibility of bending deformations of the film. The bending (also known as flexular) mode turns out to be anomalously weakly attenuated. In the harmonic approximation there is no viscous-like damping of the bending mode, proportional to q^2 (q is the wave vector of the mode...

We report on electrically-induced rotations in water films, which can function at many length scales. The device consists of a two-dimensional cell used for electrolysis of water films, as simple as an insulator frame with two electrodes on the sides, to which an external in-plane electric field perpendicular to the mean electrolysis current density is applied. If either the external field or the electrolysis current exceeds some threshold (while the other one is not zero), t...

It is shown that low Reynolds number fluid flows can cause suspended particles to respond as though they were in an equilibrium system with an effective potential. This general result follows naturally from the fact that different methods of moving particles in viscous fluids give rise to very different long-range flows. Two examples are discussed: electrophoretic `levitation' of a heavy charged sphere, for which a hydrodynamic `pseudo-potential' can be written in closed form...

For the first time the electrohydrodynamic convection (EHC) of nematic liquid crystals is studied via fully nonlinear simulation. As a system of rich pattern-formation the EHC is mostly studied with negative nematic liquid crystals experimentally, and sometimes with the help of theoretical instability analysis in the linear regime. Up to now there is only weakly nonlinear simulation for a step beyond the emergence of steady convection rolls. In this work we modify the liquid ...

We describe a local-power law scaling theory for the mean dimensionless electric current $Nu$ in turbulent electroconvection. The experimental system consists of a weakly conducting, submicron thick liquid crystal film supported in the annulus between concentric circular electrodes. It is driven into electroconvection by an applied voltage between its inner and outer edges. At sufficiently large voltage differences, the flow is unsteady and electric charge is turbulently tran...

In this experiment a steady state current is maintained through a liquid crystal thin film. When the applied voltage is increased through a threshold, a phase transition is observed into a convective state characterized by the chaotic motion of rolls. Above the threshold, an increase in power consumption is observed that is manifested by an increase in the mean conductivity. A sharp increase in the ratio of the power fluctuations to the mean power dissipated is observed above...