Application of Lattice Boltzmann Method to the Simulation of Multiphase Flow in the Inhomogeneous Porous Electrode of a PEM Fuel Cell

Abstract

The lattice Boltzmann (LB) method is applied to the multi-phase flow phenomenon in the inhomogeneous gas diffusion layer of a PEM fuel cell. The inhomogeneous porous structure of the carbon cloth and carbon paper has been modeled as void space and porous area using Stokes/Brinkman formulation and void space and impermeable fiber distributions obtained from microscopic image. The permeability of the porous medium is calculated and compared to the experimental measurements in literature showing a good agreement. Simulation results indicate that the permeability of the medium is strongly influenced by the fiber orientations. Present LB flow models are applied to the multi-phase flow simulations by incorporating multi-component model with inter-particle interaction. The model successfully simulates the complicated unsteady behaviors of liquid droplet motion in the porous medium providing a useful tool to investigate the mechanism of liquid water accumulation/removal in a gas diffusion layer of a PEM fuel cell.