| This paper presents the thrust optimization of Electro-hydrodynamic (EHD) thrusters through theoretical, experimental, and simulation approaches. The underlying force production theory is explained with electrical concepts, such as corona discharge, electrode polarity, Corona Inception Voltage (CIV), and air breakdown principles. These concepts are applied to the development of the theoretical derivation of the thrust equation relating the design variables in an EHD Thruster. The theoretical relationships derived were used to approximate an EHD Thruster with the optimal force-to-weight ratio.;Using the guiding design principles, a successful proof-of-concept EHD lifter model was built and tested with a digital power supply under the appropriate laboratory safety conditions. Although many of the design hypotheses were theoretically-sound, an updated set of conclusions were expressed to explain and improve the failed trials with different thruster geometries, electrode sizes, collector shapes, and various materials.;To avoid further safety hazards involving high voltage and corona discharge, a simulation was created using COMSOL Multiphysics 3.4. The electrostatics, charge transport, and hydrodynamics governing equations were implemented with the software to obtain graphical representations of the electric field and velocity airflow distributions of 2-D and 3-D thruster models. Although these simulation force calculations are consistent with the theoretical and experimental results, the limitations in hardware resources prevented a full optimization analysis with complex three-dimensional models. Further integration with COMSOL scripting tools has a promising outlook for future improvements. |
