Electrically Induced Shape Oscillation of Drops as a Means of Direct-Contact Heat Transfer Enhancement: Part 1—Drop Dynamics

The shape oscillation of liquid drops passing through an immiscible liquid medium subject to a low-frequency (1 ∼ 16 Hz) alternating electric field having a sinusoidal waveform has been studied experimentally with the intention of investigating the enhancement of the direct-contact heat exchange between the two liquids. We have found that the field can induce, depending on its frequency, not only the resonant oscillation of the second mode of the drops, but also another peculiar oscillation that is related to the resonant oscillation of the third mode superposed on the second-mode oscillation.