Electrohydraulic Effect

electrohydraulic effect

[i¦lek·trō·hī¦drȯl·ik i′fekt]

(physical chemistry)

Generation of shock waves and highly reactive species in a liquid as the result of application of very brief but powerful electrical pulses.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Electrohydraulic Effect

 

the occurrence of a high pressure as a result of a high-voltage electric discharge between electrodes immersed in a liquid. A pressure of up to 3 kilobars (300 meganewtons per m²) is produced owing to the energy of a pulsed shock wave that propagates around the discharge channel in the working medium, which is usually water.

The high pressure is used to produce a mechanical effect on materials during, for example, processing (including pressing, forming, and bending), refining, crushing, grinding, mixing (as in the preparation of suspensions), and pulverizing.

The power required for the electric discharge is stored in a capacitor. Depending on the purpose of the equipment, capacitors with a capacitance of 10 to 1,500 microfarads are used, as well as an impulse current of 15–50 kiloamperes, a discharge time of 10–40 microseconds, and an instantaneous power of up to 200 megawatts.

REFERENCES

Nesvetailov, G. A., and E. A. Serebriakov. Teoriia I praktika elektrogidravlicheskogo effekta. Minsk, 1966.
Popilov, L. Ia. Elektrofizicheskaia i elektrokhimicheskaia obrabotka materialov. Moscow, 1969.

L. IU. MAKSIMOV

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.