Abstract
A novel system to study the effect of general applied electric field on the stability of a cylindrical interface between the vapor and liquid phases of conducting fluids in the presence of heat and mass transfer is investigated. The vapor is hotter than the liquid and the two phases are enclosed between two cylindrical surfaces coaxial with the interface. The linear dispersion relations are obtained and discussed, for both cases of axial and radial constant electric fields, and the stability of the system is analyzed theoretically and numerically for both cases. Some limiting cases in the literature and discussed and recovered. In the former case of axial electric field, both axisymmetric and asymmetric disturbances are considered. It is found, in this case, that the heat and mass transfer, revealed through a single parameter, has no influence on the stability of the system, which is contrary to the stabilizing result obtained earlier for plane geometry, In the later case of radial electric field, it is found that each of the heat and mass transfer, the azimuthal wavenumber, and the dimensions of the system has a stabilizing effect; while the electrical conductivity has a destabilizing influence on the considered system. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.