Convection in spherical Taylor–Couette flow under the influence of the dielectrophoretic force

This study investigates convection in a non-isothermal spherical Taylor–Couette flow (sTC) under the influence of the dielectrophoretic (DEP) force. The convective flow is driven by differential rotation of the inner and outer boundaries rotating with and in combination of an electric tension applied between both shells to induce thermo-electrohydrodynamic (TEHD) convection. To understand the interaction between DEP force-driven and rotation-driven mechanisms, we first analysed TEHD convection and non-isothermal sTC flow independently. For the TEHD case, we establish scaling relations for heat transport by expressing the Nusselt number, Nu, as a function of the electric Rayleigh number, Ra₄, and the kinetic energy density, Eₖ. These relations are evaluated against classical models of convection to assess consistency and deviations. A similar approach was applied to the non-isothermal sTC flow in the absence of the DEP force, where we identified axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric flow regimes which were classified by Nu, Eₖ and, and developed corresponding scaling relations. When both mechanisms were active, Nu generally increased, however, the DEP force locally suppressed angular momentum transport, especially near the equator. This interplay revealed three distinct regimes: (A) DEP force-dominated TEHD convection, (C) rotation-dominated non-isothermal sTC flow and (B) a transitional regime with reduced heat transport. A decomposition of a derived inflow Nusselt number, Nuq, based on conductive and convective contributions, further elucidated the underlying heat transport mechanism.