A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model is used to compare the reliability and accuracy of the Helmholtz-Smoluchowski (HS) approximation against a one-dimensional charge density distribution (CD) solution of an electro-osmotic perturbation in a 2D membrane channel for reverse osmosis (RO). Electro-osmotic flow within the boundary layer is induced via the placement of a pair of electrodes parallel to the membrane surface and perpendicular to the bulk flow. Although this electrode configuration results in a two-dimensional electric field, the HS approximation considers only the electric field in the direction tangential to the membrane and not the normal component. The effect of the normal component of the electric field (E-y) on the flow field in the CD solution is compared against the solution using the HS approximation and it is found that the effect of E-y is minimal. Greater agreement between the CD solution and the HS approximation is found at higher bulk solute mass fractions, such as typically found on the membrane surface in RO systems. The relationships between cross-flow velocity, perturbation velocity and mixing are explored. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.