Development of strongly nonlinear structures at the charged boundary of a non-conducting liquid in an electric field

Abstract

Direct numerical simulation of the strongly nonlinear stages of instability development for a non-conducting liquid with a charged free surface in a normal electric field is performed. It is demonstrated that two main stages of the instability can be distinguished: an initial stage, during which dimples appear on the surface, and a developed stage, during which these dimples transform into expanding bubbles. The bubble size increases with increasing applied field, despite the fact that the scale corresponding to the dominant mode of the instability decreases.