Numerical simulation of traveling wave-induced electroconvection

A method is presented for simulating the convection in fluid flows induced by high frequency electric fields typical, e.g. for electrohydrodynamic pumping in microchannels. Time scale separation between electric field frequency and hydrodynamic flow scales is explicitly taken into account in the derivation of the model. A finite volume numerical scheme is presented which resolves the problem three dimensionally in space. The method is checked against experimental findings.