Motion and deformation of a water droplet in oil subjected to a nonuniform electric field

Simulations based on the boundary element method (BEM) are performed in order to study the response of a droplet, immersed in an immiscible fluid, subjected to a DC or AC electric field. As the applied electric field is nonuniform, the droplet undergoes dielectrophoretic (DEP) forces. For the DC electric field case, the forces and deformations are compared to previous theoretical works. For the AC case, the droplet motion and break-up are studied according to the frequency, the fluids electric properties and the droplet size and position in a needle-plate electrodes device.