Numerical simulation of electrohydrodynamic flow and vortex analysis in electrostatic precipitators

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) flow is a common physical phenomenon occurring in some industrial applications. There were many published studies focusing on experimental or numerical investigations of EHD flows in ESP. However, the comparison between both data was limited. This study was based on a hybrid algorithm using the Finite Element Method to model the ionized electric field and the Finite Volume Method to model the EHD flow. The experimental data obtained with different measurement techniques (such as LDV and PIV), different ESP configurations (wire number and position) were compared with the simulation results. The comparison shows that the standard k-ε model for turbulent flow could provide reasonable results. The simulated corona induced vortex structure was analyzed quantitatively by the Qkubo-Weiss index. The results show that the flow vorticity was dominant at a vortex center. The flow deformation is dominant far away from the vortex center.