A three-dimensional mixed-domain PEM fuel cell model with fully-coupled transport phenomena

A three-dimensional mixed-domain PEM fuel cell model with fully-coupled transport phenomena has been developed in this paper. In this model, after fully justified simplifications, only one set of interfacial boundary conditions is required to connect the water content equation inside the membrane and the equation of the water mass fraction in the other regions. All the other conservation equations are still solved in the single-domain framework. Numerical results indicate that although the fully-coupled transport phenomena produce only minor effects on the overall PEM fuel cell performance, i.e. average current density, they impose significant effects on current distribution, net water transfer coefficient, velocity and density variations, and species distributions. Intricate interactions of the mass transfer across the membrane, electrochemical kinetics, density and velocity variations, and species distributions dictate the detailed cell performances. Therefore, for accurate PEM fuel cell modeling and simulation, the effects of the fully-coupled transport phenomena could not be neglected.