Research Projects

Due to significant application in many engineering fields, interfacial instability has attracted many researchers. However small the Reynolds number is, interfacial instability can occur by virtue of viscosity stratification. A flow can be stabilized or destabilized by the electric field under the influence of electrical properties such as electrical conductivity and electrical permittivity. Visco-plastic fluids behave like a solid unless they undergo minimal stress to flow. That is, the visco-plastic fluids act like fluids only when the deviatoric component of stress is greater than the yield stress, else, the unyielded region acts like a solid by virtue of zero rate of strain. Moreover, when the shear rate increases, their viscosity decreases. Mud and slurries flowing down a gradient can be regarded as visco-plastic fluids. None of the previous works conducted stability analysis for the electrokinetically modulated flow of a visco-plastic fluid through a microchannel. The objectives of the current proposal are defined accordingly as follows: i. To conduct stability analysis of a combined electroosmotic and forced convective flow of fluid of visco-plastic nature considering no-slip as well as hydrodynamic slippage boundary condition. ii. To conduct stability analysis of a combined electroosmotic and forced convective flow of a visco-plastic fluid through a microtube.