A systematic study on numerical simulation of electrified jet printing

In this paper, a systematic study on the numerical modeling for electrified jet printing is presented. The numerical tool is the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method which suits for modeling multiphase flows with a continuous interface. The surface tension force is calculated with the Continuum Surface Force (CSF) method and the electric forces are added to the momentum equation by taking the divergence of the Maxwell stress tensor. A systematic study is carried out by introducing three dimensionless numbers, Reynolds, Electro-Weber and Weber numbers. Employing these dimensionless numbers, the number of effective parameters is reduced, and a relative comparison on the importance of competing forces on the process becomes possible. It is observed that the electric forces contribute to the formation of the jet by acting on its tip, and by pulling the jet towards the deposition surface. The results show that increments of Reynolds and Electro-Weber numbers both lead to form a thinner jet. It is also seen that in larger Electro-Weber and Reynolds numbers, an unstable jet is obtained.