Thermal Stress in Full-Size Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Stacks by Multi-Physics Modeling

Xueping Zhang, Mingtao Wu, Liusheng Xiao, Hao Wang, Yingqi Liu, Dingrong Ou and Jinliang Yuan ()
Additional contact information
Xueping Zhang: Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China
Mingtao Wu: Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China
Liusheng Xiao: Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China
Hao Wang: Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China
Yingqi Liu: Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China
Dingrong Ou: Hydrogen Energy Research Center, China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd., Guangzhou 510335, China
Jinliang Yuan: Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 9, 1-25

Abstract: Mechanical failures in the operating stacks of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are frequently related to thermal stresses generated by a temperature gradient and its variation. In this study, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is developed and further applied in full-size SOFC stacks, which are fully coupled and implemented for analysis of heat flow electrochemical phenomena, aiming to predict thermal stress distribution. The primary object of the present investigation is to explore features and characteristics of the thermal stress influenced by electrochemical reactions and various transport processes within the stacks. It is revealed that the volume ratio of the higher thermal stress region differs nearly 30% for different stack flow configurations; the highest probability of potential failure appears in the cell cathodes; the more cells applied in the stack, the greater the difference in the predicted temperature/thermal stress between the cells; the counter-flow stack performs the best in terms of output power, but the predicted thermal stress is also higher; the cross-flow stack exhibits the lowest thermal stress and a lower output power; and although the temperature and thermal stress distributions are similar, the differences between the unit cells are bigger in the longer stacks than those predicted for shorter stacks. The findings from this study may provide a useful guide for assessing the thermal behavior and impact on SOFC performance.

Keywords: SOFC stacks; thermal stress; computational fluid dynamics; multi-physics coupling modeling; failure probability analysis method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/9/2025/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/9/2025/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:9:p:2025-:d:1382544

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().