A New Numerical Study Method of Thermal Stress Distribution and Tortuosity Effectiveness in an Anode Porous Electrode for a Planar Solid Oxide Fuel Cell
Subject Areas : Mechanical Engineering
1 - Mechanical Engineering Faculty, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
2 - Mechanical Engineering Faculty, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Keywords: Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), anode, Finite elements method, Computational Fluid Dynamic, Thermal Stress,
Abstract :
A fuel cell is an electro-chemical tool capable of converting chemical energy into electricity. High operating temperature of solid oxide fuel cell, between 700oC to 1000oC, causes thermal stress. Thermal stress causes gas escape, structure variability and cease operation of the SOFC before its lifetime.The purpose of the current paper is to present a method that predicts the thermal stress distribution in an anisotropic porous anode of planar SOFC. The coupled governing non-linear differential equations, heat transfer, fluid flow, mass transfer, mass continuity, and momentum are solved numerically. A code based oncomputational fluid dynamics (CFD), computational structural mechanics and finite element method (FEM) is developed and utilized. The code uses the generated data inside the porous anode in order to detect the temperature and the stress distribution using the Darcy’s law and the Navier-Stokes equations. The numerical results used to govern the areas of high values of stresses were higher than the yield strength of materials. The results show that a highest thermal stress occurs at lower corners of the anode. The concentrated temperature occurs at the middle of the electrolyte-anode whereas the maximum pressure occurs at the middle of the upper and lower section of the anode.
[1] Hoogers G., 2003, Fuel Cell Technology Handbook, CRC Press, Boca Raton.
[2] Hibino T., 2002, High Performance Anodes for SOFCs Operating in Methane-Air Mixture at Reduced Temperatures, Journal of Electrochemistry Society 149: 133-136.
[3] Zhu H., 2005, Modeling elementary heterogeneous chemistry and electrochemistry in solid-oxide fuel cells, Journal of Electrochemistry Society 152: 2427-2440.
[4] Greco F., 2014, Modelling the impact of creep on the probability of failure of a solid oxide fuel cell stack, Journal of the European Ceramic Society 34: 2695-2704.
[5] Peksen M., 2015, Numerical thermomechanical modelling of solid oxide fuel cells, Progress in Energy and Combustion Science 48:1-20.
[6] Boccaccini D.N., 2016, Investigation of the bonding strength and bonding mechanisms of SOFCs interconnector–electrode interfaces, Material Letters 162: 250-253.
[7] Min X., 2016, Solid oxide fuel cell interconnect design optimization considering the thermal stresses, Science Bulletin 61: 1333-1344.
[8] Fleischhauer F., 2015, Fracture toughness and strength distribution at room temperature of zirconia tapes used for electrolyte supported solid oxide fuel cells, Journal of Power Sources 275: 217-226.
[9] Kamvar M., 2016, Effect of catalyst layer configuration on single chamber solid oxide fuel cell performance, Applied Thermal Engineering 100: 98-104.
[10] Pianko-Oprych P., 2016, A numerical investigation of the thermal stresses of a planar solid oxide fuel cell, Materials 9(10): 814.
[11] Pasaogullari U., Wang C.Y., 2003, Computational fluid dynamics modeling of solid oxide fuel cells, The Electrochemical Society Proceedings 7: 1403-1412.
[12] Petruzzi L., 2003, A global thermo electrochemical model for SOFC systems design and engineering, Journal of Power Sources 118: 96-107.
[13] Recknagle K.P., 2003, Three-dimensional thermo-fluid electrochemical modeling of planar SOFC stacks, Journal of Power Sources 113: 109-114.
[14] Janardhanan V.M., Deutschmann O., 2006, CFD analysis of a solid oxide fuel cell with internal reforming: Coupled interactions of transport heterogeneous catalysis and electrochemical processes, Journal of Power Sources 162: 1192-1202.
[15] Klein J.M., 2007, Modeling of a SOFC fuelled by methane: From direct internal reforming to gradual internal reforming, Chemical Engineering Science 62: 1636-1649.
[16] Li P.W., Chyu M.K., 2003, Simulation of the chemical/electrochemical reactions and heat/mass transfer for a tubular SOFC in a stack, Journal of Power Sources 124: 487-498.
[17] Suwanwarangkul R., 2006, Mechanistic modelling of a cathode-supported tubular solid oxide fuel cell, Journal of Power Sources 154: 74-85.
[18] Celik S., 2015, Micro level two dimensional stress and thermal analysis anode/electrolyte interface of a solid oxide fuel cell, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 40: 7895-7902.
[19] Luo Y., Jiang W., 2016, Effects of anode porosity on thermal stress and failure probability of planar solid oxide fuel cell with bonded compliant seal, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 41: 7464-7474.
[20] Ho T.X., 2010, Effects of heat sources on the performance of a planar solid oxide fuel cell, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 35: 4276-4284.
[21] Bove R., Ubertini S., 2008, Modeling Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, Methods, Procedures and Techniques, Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy, Springer Publication.
[22] Singh P., Bansal P., 2008, Advances in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells IV, John Wiley Publications, New York.
[23] Ho T.X. 2010, Effects of heat sources on the performance of a planar solid oxide fuel cell, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 35: 4276-4284.
[24] Nehter P., 2008, Theoretical Analysis of High Fuel Utilization Solid Oxide Fuel Cell, Nova Science Publications, New York.
[25] Larminie J., Dicks A., 2003, Fuel Cell Systems Explained, John Wiley, New York.
[26] Akhtar N. 2009, A three dimensional numerical model of a single-chamber solid oxide fuel cell, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 34: 8645-8663.
[27] Milewski J., 2011, Advanced Methods of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Modeling, Springer Publication.
[28] Boley B.A., Weiner J.H., 1997, Fuel Theory of Thermal Stresses, Dover Publication, New York.
[29] Hetnarski R.B., Eslami M.R., 2008, Thermal Stress: Advanced in Theory, Springer Publication.
[30] Rogers W. 2003, Validation and application of a CFD-Based model for solid oxide fuel cells and stacks, International Conference on Fuel Cell Science Engineering and Technology 2003: 517-520.
[31] Hussain M.M. 2006, Mathematical modeling of planar solid oxide fuel cells, Journal of Power Sources 161: 1012-1022.
[32] Shao Q., 2016, Influence of fluid flow and heat transfer on crack propagation in SOFC multi-layered like material with anisotropic porous layers, International Journal of Solids and Structures 97: 189-198.
[33] Shao Q., 2015, An advanced numerical model for energy conversion and crack growth predictions in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell units , International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 40: 16509-16520.