Numerical Simulation of Liquid Water Transport in a Multiperforated Gas Diffusion Layer of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

Abstract

Efficient water management in the gas diffusion layer (GDL) facilitates the efficient and stable operation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). GDL perforation is an effective method for fuel cell water management. The stochastic reconstruction of multiperforated GDL structure with different perforation diameters, perforation spacings, and array modes was established to simulate the transport process of water in multiperforated GDLs. The multiple relaxation time lattice Boltzmann method (MRT LBM) was used to simulate the water transport process in perforated GDLs. The result showed that the diameter of the perforation greatly influenced the water transport process; as the perforation diameter increased, the height of the water breakthrough rose, and water saturation significantly increased. When the perforation spacing was extremely small, the impact area of perforation spacing overlapped, and the area of the water breakthrough–prone region decreased, thus reducing water transportation efficiency. The array method had little effect on water saturation and water breakthrough height. These findings show that array parameters can influence the behavior of the water transport process in perforated GDLs and have significant implications for the application of perforation methods in GDL water management.