Pore Network Modeling of Compressed Fuel Cell Components with OpenPNM

Tranter, Thomas G.; Gostick, Jeff T.; Burns, A. D.; Gale, William F.

doi:10.1002/fuce.201500168

Cited by 37 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 43 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…41 This advantage of the pore network approach has recently made it an attractive alternative for studying how the microstructure affects the macroscopic properties of porous materials, which has been demonstrated in a few recent studies. [42][43][44] The basic assumption behind pore network modeling is that each pore is a well-mixed entity, i.e. within the pores, intensive properties such as pressure and concentration vary only slightly, if at all.…”

Section: Model Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Impact of Electrode Microstructure on Redox Flow Battery Performance Using a Multiphysics Pore Network Model

Sadeghi

Aganou

Kok

et al. 2019

J. Electrochem. Soc.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The redox flow battery is a promising energy storage technology for managing the inherent uncertainty of renewable energy sources. At present, however, they are too expensive and thus economically unattractive. Optimizing flow batteries is thus an active area of research, with the aim of reducing cost by maximizing performance. This work addresses microstructural electrode optimizations by providing a modeling framework based on pore-networks to study the multiphysics involved in a flow battery, with a specific focus on pore-scale structure and its impact on transport processes. The proposed pore network approach was extremely cheap in computation cost (compared to direct numerical simulation) and therefore was used for parametric sweeps to search for optimum electrode structures in a reasonable time. It was found that that increasing porosity generally helps performance by increasing the permeability and flow rate at a given pressure drop, despite reducing reactive surface area per unit volume. As a more nuanced structural study, it was found that aligning fibers in the direction of flow helps performance by increasing permeability but showed diminishing returns beyond slight alignment. The proposed model was demonstrated in the context of a hydrogen bromine flow battery but could be applied to any system of interest.) unless CC License in place (see abstract). ecsdl.org/site/terms_use address. Redistribution subject to ECS terms of use (see 128.41.35.179 Downloaded on 2019-07-09 to IP A2122 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 166 (10) A2121-A2130 (2019) ) unless CC License in place (see abstract). ecsdl.org/site/terms_use address. Redistribution subject to ECS terms of use (see 128.41.35.179 Downloaded on 2019-07-09 to IP ) unless CC License in place (see abstract). ecsdl.org/site/terms_use address. Redistribution subject to ECS terms of use (see 128.41.35.179 Downloaded on 2019-07-09 to IP

show abstract

Section: Model Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Impact of Electrode Microstructure on Redox Flow Battery Performance Using a Multiphysics Pore Network Model

Sadeghi

Aganou

Kok

et al. 2019

J. Electrochem. Soc.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These networks were verified by the fit to water injection and mercury intrusion data Gostick ( 2013 ), and have also been used to study the effects of compression on multiphase flow in GDLs Tranter et al. ( 2016 ). A considerable advantage of using a Voronoi diagram to create the network is that correlation between pore size and location arises naturally.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…A 3D image is then created giving volume to the fibres and pore and throat sizes are determined utilising the special property of the Voronoi diagram, which is that regions between fibres are always convex hulls Gostick ( 2013 ) and Tranter et al. ( 2016 ). Important network sizes are shown in Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For water injection, it is assumed that air maintains a continuous network via cracks and corners until the very end of the experiment where pressure increases and all air is squeezed from the network, as previous models have assumed Gostick ( 2013 ), Tranter et al. ( 2016 ). Therefore, the wetting phase (air) does not become trapped, in agreement with experimental observations García-Salaberri et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Capillary Hysteresis in Neutrally Wettable Fibrous Media: A Pore Network Study of a Fuel Cell Electrode

Tranter¹,

Gostick²,

Burns

et al. 2017

Transp Porous Med

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hysteresis in the saturation versus capillary pressure curves of neutrally wettable fibrous media was simulated with a random pore network model using a Voronoi diagram approach. The network was calibrated to fit experimental air-water capillary pressure data collected for carbon fibre paper commonly used as a gas diffusion layer in fuel cells. These materials exhibit unusually strong capillary hysteresis, to the extent that water injection and withdrawal occur at positive and negative capillary pressures, respectively. Without the need to invoke contact angle hysteresis, this capillary behaviour is re-produced when using a porescale model based on the curvature of a meniscus passing through the centre of a toroid. The classic Washburn relation was shown to produce erroneous results, and its use is not recommended when modelling fibrous media. The important effect of saturation distribution on the effective diffusivity of the medium was also investigated for both water injection and withdrawal cases. The findings have bearing on the understanding of both capillarity in fibrous media and fuel cell design.

show abstract

“…Pore network models (PNMS) are a type among various pore scale models available, e.g., Lattice Boltzmann models which are mostly available on the scale of one pore. PNMs are discrete models that represent the pore space by a lattice of pores and throats (e.g., [42][43][44][45][46]). In comparison to other methods, which are computationally more expensive in terms of discretization of the physical domain and solving of the governing equations, PNMs can be used to study larger systems computationally more efficiently.…”

Section: Pore Network Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Steady-State Water Drainage by Oxygen in Anodic Porous Transport Layer of Electrolyzers: A 2D Pore Network Study

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recently, pore network modelling has been attracting attention in the investigation of electrolysis. This study focuses on a 2D pore network model with the purpose to study the drainage of water by oxygen in anodic porous transport layers (PTL). The oxygen gas produced at the anode catalyst layer by the oxidation of water flows counter currently to the educt through the PTL. When it invades the water-filled pores of the PTL, the liquid is drained from the porous medium. For the pore network model presented here, we assume that this process occurs in distinct steps and applies classical rules of invasion percolation with quasi-static drainage. As the invasion occurs in the capillary-dominated regime, it is dictated by the pore structure and the pore size distribution. Viscous and liquid film flows are neglected and gravity forces are disregarded. The curvature of the two-phase interface within the pores, which essentially dictates the invasion process, is computed from the Young Laplace equation. We show and discuss results from Monte Carlo pore network simulations and compare them qualitatively to microfluidic experiments from literature. The invasion patterns of different types of PTLs, i.e., felt, foam, sintered, are compared with pore network simulations. In addition to this, we study the impact of pore size distribution on the phase patterns of oxygen and water inside the pore network. Based on these results, it can be recommended that pore network modeling is a valuable tool to study the correlation between kinetic losses of water electrolysis processes and current density.

show abstract

Pore Network Modeling of Compressed Fuel Cell Components with OpenPNM

Cited by 37 publications

References 43 publications

Exploring the Impact of Electrode Microstructure on Redox Flow Battery Performance Using a Multiphysics Pore Network Model

Exploring the Impact of Electrode Microstructure on Redox Flow Battery Performance Using a Multiphysics Pore Network Model

Capillary Hysteresis in Neutrally Wettable Fibrous Media: A Pore Network Study of a Fuel Cell Electrode

Steady-State Water Drainage by Oxygen in Anodic Porous Transport Layer of Electrolyzers: A 2D Pore Network Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About