The stability of the circular Couette flow of a dielectric fluid is analyzed by a linear perturbation theory. The fluid is confined between two concentric cylindrical electrodes of infinite length with only the inner one rotating. A temperature difference and an alternating electric tension are applied to the electrodes to produce a radial dielectrophoretic body force that can induce convection in the fluid. We examine the effects of superposition of this thermoelectric force with the centrifugal force including its thermal variation. The Earth's gravity is neglected to focus on the situations of a vanishing Grashof number such as microgravity conditions. Depending on the electric field strength and of the temperature difference, critical modes are either axisymmetric or nonaxisymmetric, occurring in either stationary or oscillatory states. An energetic analysis is performed to determine the dominant destabilizing mechanism. When the inner cylinder is hotter than the outer one, the circular Couette flow is destabilized by the centrifugal force for weak and moderate electric fields. The critical mode is steady axisymmetric, except for weak fields within a certain range of the Prandtl number and of the radius ratio of the cylinders, where the mode is oscillatory and axisymmetric. The frequency of this oscillatory mode is correlated with a Brunt-Väisälä frequency due to the stratification of both the density and the electric permittivity of the fluid. Under strong electric fields, the destabilization by the dielectrophoretic force is dominant, leading to oscillatory nonaxisymmetric critical modes with a frequency scaled by the frequency of the inner-cylinder rotation. When the outer cylinder is hotter than the inner one, the instability is again driven by the centrifugal force. The critical mode is axisymmetric and either steady under weak electric fields or oscillatory under strong electric fields. The frequency of the oscillatory mode is also correlated with the Brunt-Väisälä frequency.

• Received 23 December 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.91.033003