Experimental estimation of the electric force induced by a blade-plane actuator in dielectric liquids

A blade-plane actuator immersed in a dielectric liquid and connected to a high voltage power supply produces a Coulomb force which sets the liquid in motion from the blade tip to the plane. Jets of more than 1 m/s have already been observed. In this work, a method is proposed to estimate the electric force generated by a blade plane actuator from Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) velocity field measurements. The originality of this paper comes from the fact that the volume force is not measured directly with an aerodynamic shielded balance but calculated from velocity fields obtained by Particle Image Velocimetry. In this article the global time-averaged electric force is computed in a fixed control volume by the use of the momentum equation in its integral form.