The Electric Curtain (EC) consists of a series of parallel electrodes embedded in a dielectric surface driven by a multiphase alternating electric (AC) voltage source. The EC can transport particles of a variety of materials, and it shows significant promise for dust mitigation and separation applications with charged particles. In this paper, we use a simple mathematical model to demonstrate interesting chaotic behavior of the particles in a EC field. We have identified multiple mode bifurcations as well as the onset of chaotic dynamics of particle motion based on analysis of phase-plane plots, bifurcation diagrams and Poincare sections. These bifurcations lead to abrupt changes in particle transport properties, such as average translation velocity and elevation height. It may be possible to utilize this information to better understand and control particle transport and/or separation efficiency on the EC by manipulating key physical parameters to trigger or avoid bifurcations. We have further investigated some particle trajectories in phase space when they are on the surface of the EC and briefly describe some interesting behavior of the out-of-plane particle motion.
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