Stress and plastic deformation of MEA in running fuel cell

Numerical modelling of mechanical stresses in running fuel cell is provided. The evolution of stresses and plastic deformations in the membrane has been obtained during the turn-on phase. The operating conditions have been taken into account by imposing the heating sources and the humidity field. Th...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of hydrogen energy 2008-10, Vol.33 (20), p.5703-5717
Main Authors: Bograchev, Daniil, Gueguen, Mikael, Grandidier, Jean-Claude, Martemianov, Serguei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ABAQUS
Engineering Sciences
Fuel cell
Mechanical behaviour
Physics
Proton exchange membrane
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Numerical modelling of mechanical stresses in running fuel cell is provided. The evolution of stresses and plastic deformations in the membrane has been obtained during the turn-on phase. The operating conditions have been taken into account by imposing the heating sources and the humidity field. The results have been presented on two scales: the global scale reflects the stress evolution in the entire fuel cell and the local one corresponds to the tooth/channel structure. It has been shown that the stresses are strongly heterogeneous on the both scales and time dependent. From the mechanical point of view, the most sensible zone is under the GDL/seal joint interface. In the running fuel cell the heterogeneity decreases while it rises in the fuel cell just after the assembly. The stresses reach the maximum values during the humidification step, the magnitude of these stresses is sufficient for initiation of the plastic deformations in the Nafion membrane.
ISSN:0360-3199
1879-3487
DOI:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2008.06.066