Numerical investigation of effective thermal conductivity of gas diffusion layer of the PEM fuel cell

Abstract

A three-dimensional multicomponent multiphase (MCMP) thermally coupled lattice Boltzmann model (LBM) was developed to investigate the effect of water content on the effective thermal conductivity (ETC) of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). A stochastic model was then used to reconstruct the 3D GDLs, and the effects of the material conditions on the heat and mass transfer characteristics were examined in detail. The results showed that the more the liquid water was saturated, the higher the estimated ETC of the GDL. When the wettability of the carbon fiber was constant, the distribution of liquid water played a more critical role in predicting the ETC.