Modeling and Numerical Studies for a 3D Two-Phase Mixed-Domain Model of PEM Fuel Cell

Abstract

In this paper, a three-dimensional (3D), multiphysics, two-phase transport mixed-domain model and its effective numerical methods are systematically studied for a full proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The present multifluid-type two-phase model fully incorporates both anode and cathode sides, properly accounts for the following three water phases: water vapor, liquid water and water in membrane phase, and enables numerical investigations for water management issues with the existence of condensation/evaporation. The corresponding interfacial boundary conditions are exactly provided for the aforementioned three water phases to guarantee the equality of water flux across all the interfaces between the membrane and the catalyst layers. By means of a combined finite element-upwind finite volume method and Newton's linearization schemes, we obtain a fast convergent nonlinear iteration for the present PEMFC model, and the convergent numerical solutions are accurate in the sense that the discrete convergence errors are nearly optimal and the mass balance errors are small ( < 5%).