Electro-Kinetic Instability in a Laminar Boundary Layer Next to an Ion Exchange Membrane

Abstract

The electro-kinetic instability in a pressure driven shear flow near an ion exchange membrane is considered. The electrochemical system, through which an electrical potential drop is applied, consists in a polarization layer in contact with the membrane and a bulk. The numerical investigation contained two aspects: analysis of the instability modes and description of the Lagrangian transport of fluid and ions. Regarding the first aspect, the modes were analyzed as a function of the potential drop. The analysis revealed how the spatial distribution of forces controls the dynamics of vortex association and dissociation. In particular, the birth of a counter-clockwise vortex between two clockwise vortices, and the initiation of clusters constituting one or two envelopes wrapping a vortex group, were examined. In regards to the second aspect, the trajectories were computed with the fourth order Runge Kutta scheme for the time integration and with the biquadratric upstream scheme for the spatial and time interpolation of the fluid velocity and the ion flux. The results for the periodic mode showed two kinds of trajectories: the trochoidal motion and the longitudinal one coupled with a periodic transverse motion. For the aperiodic modes, other mechanisms appeared, such as ejection from the mixing layer, trapping by a growing vortex or merging vortices. The analysis of the local velocity field, the vortices’ shape, the spatial distribution of the forces and the ion flux components explained these trajectories.