Deformation transients of confined droplets within interacting electric and magnetic field environment

Abstract

A theoretical exploration and an analytical model for the electro-magneto-hydrodynamics (EMHD) of leaky dielectric liquid droplets suspended in an immiscible confined fluid domain have been presented. The analytical solution for the system, under small deformation approximation in the creeping flow regime, has been put forward. The study of droplet deformation suggests that its temporal evolution is exponential and dependent on the electric and magnetic field interaction. Furthermore, the direction of the applied magnetic field relative to the electric field determines whether the magnetic force opposes or facilitates the interfacial net electrical force caused by the electric field. Validation of the proposed model at the asymptotic limits of vanishing magnetic field shows that the model accurately reduces to the case of the transient electrohydrodynamic model. We also propose a magnetic discriminating function (ϕM) to quantify the steady-state droplet deformation in the presence of interacting electric and magnetic fields. The change of droplets from a spherical shape to prolate and oblate spheroids corresponds to ϕM> 0 and < 0 regimes, respectively. It is shown that a substantial augmentation in the deformation parameter and the associated EMHD circulation within and around the droplet is achieved when aided by a low-magnitude magnetic field. The analysis also reveals the deformation lag and specific critical parameters that aid or suppress this lag behavior, discussed in terms of relevant non-dimensional parameters.