INTERFACIAL DEFORMATION OF LIQUID-DROPS BY ELECTRIC-FIELDS AT ZERO-GRAVITY

The dynamic behaviour of a viscous droplet under the influence of appl ied electric fields in zero gravity is investigated by solving the axi symmetric Navier-Stokes equations numerically using the NASA-VOF2D alg orithm and Laplace's equation for the electrostatic potential using a standard finite difference technique. The initial condition of the dro plet profile was determined by solving the Young-Laplace equation. The model is successful in predicting the dynamic deformation process of the droplet including its breakup. Although the numerically observed b reakups were too small to be detected experimentally, our computationa l results were supported by the charge loss measurements of the sessil e droplet carried out during the experiment.