Enhanced heat transfer in a horizontal channel with double electrodes

Enhancement in heat transfer using electrohydrodynamic (EHD) technique is numerically examined for laminar forced convection in a horizontal channel with two electrodes. Attention is also focused on the effect of added electric field on the flow stability. The electrical field is generated by positive corona from wire electrodes charged with a high DC voltage (10⩽V₀⩽17.5 kV). The flow Reynolds numbers considered are in the range of 75⩽Re⩽2400. For a given electric field, oscillation in the flow and temperature fields has been observed for flows at small Reynolds numbers. The flow and temperature fields tend to stabilize when the Reynolds number is increased. Due to the existence of secondary flows, there is an improvement in heat transfer and it is most notable far flows at a small Reynolds number. In addition, it is found that heat transfer enhancement increases with the applied voltage