| The Taylor cone-jet is a particular type of electrohydrodynamic phenomenon where electrostatic stresses and surface tension effects shape the interface of the jet in a peculiar conical shape. A thin jet is issued from the cone apex that further breaks up into a fine aerosol. Due to its monodispersive properties, this fine aerosol has found a number of applications, ranging from mass spectrometry, colloidal space propulsion, combustion, nano-fabrication, coating/painting, and many others. In this study, a general non-dimensional analysis is performed to derive the governing equations and boundary conditions. In accordance with the observations of Gamero-Castano (2010), noting that droplet electric potential is insensitive to the flow rate conditions, a particular set of characteristic parameters is proposed, based on the terminal jet diameter. In order to solve the non-dimensional set of governing equations and boundary conditions, a numerical method combining the Boundary Element Method and the Finite Volume Method is developed. Results of electric current have shown good agreement with numerical and experimental data available in the literature. The main feature of the algorithm developed is related to the decoupling of the electrostatic from the hydrodynamic problem, allowing us to accurately prescribe the far field electric potential boundary conditions away from the hydrodynamic computational domain used to solve the hydrodynamics of the transition region near the cone apex. |
