Linear and nonlinear evolution and diffusion layer selection in electrokinetic instability

In the present work, four nontrivial stages of electrokinetic instability are identified by direct numerical simulation (DNS) of the full Nernst-Planck-Poisson-Stokes system: (i) a stage of the influence of the initial conditions (milliseconds); (ii) one-dimensional (1D) self-similar evolution (milliseconds-seconds); (iii) a primary instability of the self-similar solution (seconds); (iv) a nonlinear stage with secondary instabilities. The self-similar character of evolution at moderately large times is confirmed. Rubinstein and Zaltzman instability and noise-driven nonlinear evolution toward overlimiting regimes in ion-exchange membranes are numerically simulated and compared with theoretical and experimental predictions. The primary instability which happens during this stage is found to arrest a self-similar growth of the diffusion layer. It also specifies its characteristic length as was first experimentally predicted by Yossifon and Chang [G. Yossifon and H.-C. Chang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 254501 (2008)]. A novel principle for the characteristic wave-number selection from the broadband initial noise is established.