Thrust origin in EHD lifters

Abstract

This paper1 presents the results of the analytical and experimental studies of thrust origin in electrohydrodynamic lifters. It was found that the thrust is the reactive force to the force driving the EHD flow when the electric corona discharge takes place. The results of the experiments confirmed that the thrust is mainly applied on the ground electrode and the net force on the corona wire is negative. The configuration of the lifter affects the thrust but simply increasing the number of corona wires won't increase the thrust.