HEAT-TRANSFER TO LIQUIDS IN NONUNIFORM ELECTRIC-FIELDS

A numerical solution of the equations of change for heat transfer from a heated horizontal wire suspended in a liquid dielectric and subject ed to a nonuniform electric field has been obtained. A key assumption made was that the electric field in the liquid was the same as that fo r an isothermal dielectric. The results support the experimental measu rements reported earlier [T. Ryde, S. Arajs, and R. J. Nunge, J. Appl. Phys. 69, 606 (1991)] for hexane in which the electric Nusselt number s were higher in ac fields than in corresponding de fields. (C) 1994 A merican Institute of Physics.