Electro-aerodynamic instability of a thin dielectric liquid sheet sprayed with an air stream

The instability of a thin sheet of dielectric liquid moving in the same direction as an air stream in the presence of a uniform horizontal electric field is studied theoretically. It is found that aerodynamic-enhanced instability occurs if the Weber number is much less than a critical value related to the ratio of the air and liquid stream velocities, the electric field, and the dielectric constant values. The electric field is found to have a stabilizing effect, and there exists a critical Weber number above which instability is suppressed by the surface tension effect. The condition for disintegrating the sheet is obtained in terms of the electric field values, and some limiting cases are recovered. [S1063-651X(99)01312-4].