Lattice Boltzmann Method Study on Liquid Water Dynamic inside Gas Diffusion Layer with Porosity Distribution

• Published in: World electric vehicle journal Vol. 12; no. 3; p. 133
• Main Authors: Yang, Mingyang, Du, Aimin, Liu, Jinling, Xu, Sichuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.09.2021
• Subjects: Accuracy; Boundary conditions; Carbon fibers; Contact angle; Diffusion layers; Fuel cells; gas diffusion layer (GDL); Gaseous diffusion; Hydrophobicity; lattice Boltzmann method; liquid water saturation; Mass transfer; Porosity; proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC); Proton exchange membrane fuel cells; Transport processes; Two dimensional models; Water; Water area; Water transport
• ISSN: 2032-6653; 2032-6653
• DOI: 10.3390/wevj12030133

The gas diffusion layer (GDL) plays an important role in the mass transfer process during proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) operation. However, the GDL porosity distribution, which has often been ignored in the previous works, influences the mass transfer significantly. In this paper, a 2D lattice Boltzmann method model is employed to simulate the liquid water transport process in the real GDL (considered porosity distribution) and the ideal GDL (ignore porous distribution), respectively. It was found that the liquid water transport in the real GDL will be significantly affected by the local low porosity area. In the real GDL, a liquid water saturation threshold can be noticed when the contact angle is about 118°. The GDL porosity distribution shows a stronger influence on liquid dynamic than hydrophobicity, which needs to be considered in future GDL modelling and design.