Excerpt from the Proceedings of the COMSOL Conference 2007, Boston

Comparison of Darcys Law, the Brinkman Equation, the Modified

N-S Equation and the Pure Diffusion Equation in PEM Fuel Cell
Modeling
Zhongying Shi, Xia Wang*
Oakland University
*Corresponding author: 169 DHE, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, 48309
wang@oakland.edu

Abstract: A two dimensional isothermal single

phase PEM fuel cell model is developed and
implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics, where
Darcys law, the Brinkman equation, the modified
N-S equation, and the pure diffusion equation is
applied separately in porous electrodes. Three
values of GDL permeability are investigated.
Additionally, the order of the magnitude of each
term in the modified N-S equation is evaluated. It
is found that Darcys law, the Brinkman equation
and the modified N-S equation show no visible
effects on the fuel cell performance. The
polarization curves calculated from high
permeability of 10-11 m2 and 10-12 m2 collapse
well with the experimental data where the
permeability is 1.210-12 m2 while the
permeability is 10-13 m2, a sharp potential drop is
found at the high current density. The Brinkman
equation is recommended in fuel cell modeling
considering the boundary condition setting
problems of Darcys law and the convergence
problem of the modified N-S equation.
Keywords: PEM fuel cell, Modeling, COMSOL
Multiphysics

1. Introduction
The main structure of a single PEM fuel
cell includes an anode electrode, an electrolyte,
and a cathode electrode while the electrode is
made of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) and the
catalyst layer (CL). The GDL is made of a thin
layer of porous materials such as carbon fiber or
carbon cloth. The pores in GDL provide flow
paths for reactant to reach the reaction site for the
chemical reaction. Meanwhile, the water produced
on the cathode side will diffuse back through the
pores of GDL to the flow channel on the cathode
bipolar plate and leave the cell. The solid substrate
of GDL will conduct electrons and heat.
Therefore, the GDL plays an important role in
maintaining a good fuel cell performance.

Different types of models have been

developed to predict the cell performance from
one-dimensional isothermal single-phase models
to three-dimensional non-isothermal two-phase
models as summarized in review papers [1-4].
Among all these models, modeling momentum
transport in GDL is treated as modeling the flow
in the porous media. Most of the existing models
use Darcys law to model the flow in GDL [5-7]
due to its simplicity, while others use the modified
Navier-Stokes(N-S) equation by adding the
Darcys term and correcting the velocity term [810]. The Brinkman equation is an equation
between Darcys equation and the N-S equation,
where the viscous term is added to Darcys
equation or the inertial term is dropped from the
N-S equation. In spite of its simplicity compared
to the N-S equation and accuracy compared to
Darcys law, the application of the Brinkman
equation in the fuel cell modeling has not yet be
seen in the resources available to authors. In
addition, some fuel cell models completely ignore
the convective transport in the porous media and
only consider the diffusion phenomena in GDL
[11]. Furthermore, for the modified N-S equations
used in the porous media, two forms have been
used. One is the model by Wang et al. [12] where
the porosity to square power appears in the N-S
equation while the other is the model originally
derived in [13-16] and later presented by Zhou et
al. [8] in the fuel cell model where the porosity to
the first power appears.
There is no consistent model which can
be used to describe the flow in porous electrodes
yet. This paper will propose a two dimensional
isothermal fuel cell model to evaluate four models
which have been used to describe the momentum
transport in porous gas diffusion layer and catalyst
layer: Darcys Law, the Brinkman equation, the
modified N-S equation and the pure diffusion
model. The effects of GDL parameters such as the
permeability of GDL will be investigated. The
polarization curve resulting from each model will

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the COMSOL Conference 2007, Boston

be presented. The order of the magnitude of each

term in the modified N-S equation will be
numerically evaluated.

2. Mathematical Models
2.1 Model Assumptions
A two-dimensional isothermal singlephase model is developed to predict the cell
performance under the following assumptions:
1. Flow is laminar everywhere due to a small gas
pressure gradient and the low Reynolds number.
2. Reactant gases and reaction products behave as
ideal gas mixture.
3. Electrodes and membrane are made of
homogeneous porous materials.
4. The temperature distribution across the cell is
uniform and stays constant.
5. Water in the fuel cell exists only in the vapor
phase.
6. The polymer electrolyte membrane is
impermeable to reactant gases.
2.2 Model Geometry
A PEM fuel cell with an interdigitated
flow field is considered here. Figure 1 shows the
schematic of the modeling geometry which
includes the anode GDL, anode CL, membrane,
cathode CL and cathode GDL. Air and fuel are
supplied to the cell in a counter flow direction.
The x-axis is the across the membrane direction.

2.3 Governing Equations

2.3.1 Darcys Law, the Brinkman Equation and
the Modified Navier-Stokes Equation
The general form of the N-S equation is
valid for the flow inside pores of the porous
medium. However, its solution cannot be
generalized to describe the flow through porous
media due to the complex geometry and boundary
conditions Whitaker[14], Vafai and Tiken[16] and
Wang et al. [12]. Since both GDL and CL are
made of porous media, the general form of
Navier-Stokes equations used to describe the flow
in flow channels must be modified here to
describe the flow through porous medium. The
volume averaging technique by Whitaker[14] and
the average theorem by Slattery[13] have been
used by Vafai and Tiken[16]. Following these
techniques, a modified momentum equation used
to describe the flow through a porous medium can
be easily obtained as:
r
r
r
r
u u = P + 2 u f u (1)
f

where the subscript f means fluids; K is the

permeability of porous medium; is the porosity
of the porous medium. The angle brackets mean
the volume average defined by Whitaker [14] and
is given as
(2)
1
=

dV

where is any quantity associated with fluids, and

V is any differential volume chosen inside the
porous medium. The last term on the right hand
side of Eq.(1) is from the empirical form of
Darcys Law.
Ignoring the inertia term f ( u ) u in Eq. (1),
the modified N-S equation reduces to the
Brinkman equation given as:
r
r
(4)
0 = P + 2 u f u
f

which is valid for low velocity flow where the

inertial term has little effect. Furthermore, if the
viscous term in Eq.(4) is ignored, the Brinkman
equation will become Darcys Law given as:
f r
(5)
u = P
K

Figure 1: Two Dimensional Fuel Cell Model

Geometry: Interdigitated Flow (Not drawn to scale).

From now on, the angel brackets and the

subscript f will be dropped for the remainder of
this paper for the simplification.

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the COMSOL Conference 2007, Boston

The pure diffusion model means that the

movement of reactants is driven only by the
concentration
difference.
Therefore,
no
momentum equation is solved at all.
2.3.2 Mass Conservation and Species Transport
Equation
The continuity equation:
r
( u ) = S m
(6)

species can always be obtained from the mass

balance equation given as following:
wN 2 = 1 wO 2 wH 2O
(9)
On the anode side, the hydrogen transport
equation is solved first, and then the mass fraction
of water can be obtained by:
wH 2O = 1 wH 2
(10)
The binary diffusivities Dij used in the Maxwell-

where Sm is the source term, kg /( m3 s ) . It

accounts for the consumption of hydrogen given
by S = ja M at the anode catalyst layer and the

Stefan equations are calculated from the empirical

correlation given by:

consumption of oxygen and the net production of

water due to the electrochemical reactions given
at cathode catalyst
by S = Jc M + Jc M

where P0 is the atmospheric pressure; T0 is the

H2

2F

4F

O2

2F

H 2O

layer. The variables M H 2 , M O and M H O are the

molar mass of hydrogen, oxygen and water,
respectively; F is the Faraday constant; j a and jc
are the transfer current density corresponding to
electrochemical reaction at the anode and cathode
catalyst layers, which can be formulated by the
agglomerate model being discussed in the next
section. The source term in the continuity equation
is assumed to be zero in the both GDL and CL to
simplify the coupling with the species equations,
and this simplification is approved acceptable in
the fuel cell simulation [17].
The multi-component diffusion and
convection are described by the Maxwell-Stafen
equation. It solves for the fluxes of each species in
terms of mass fraction. The general form of the
Maxwell-Stafen equation is shown below:
2

[ i

D { MM

( j + j

ij

j =1

where Dij is

binary

r
M
P
) + (x j j )
} + i u ] = Ri
M
P

diffusion

(7)
coefficient,

m 2 s 1 ; Ri is the reaction rate, kg /( m 3 s ) ; x is the

molar fraction; is the mass fraction; M is the
molecular mass, kg / mol ; is the mixture gas
density described by:
(8)
= ( xi M i ) P /( R T )

where R is the universal gas constant, 8.314

J / mol K ; T is the cell operating temperature,
K . The subscripts i and j represent different
species. On the cathode side, only two species
transport equations are solved since the third

Dij = Dij o (T0 , P0 )

P
P0

T0

1.5

reference temperature;

(11)

Dij o is

the reference binary

diffusivity as listed in Table 1. In the porous

media, the effective binary diffusivity is modified
by the Bruggeman correlation to account for the
effect of the porosity ( ) in the porous GDL and
catalyst layer, and is defined as:
(12)
Dij _ eff = Dij ( )1.5
The reaction rates Ri on the right hand side of the
Maxwell-Stefan Eq.(7) account for the
consumption and production of each species on
the anode and cathode side, and are given as:
RH 2 =

j
ja
j
M H 2 ; RO 2 = c M O 2 ; RH 2O = c M H 2O
2F
2F
4F

(13)
where ja and jc are the transfer current density of
anode and cathode side, respectively, which will
be obtained by the agglomerate model shown in
the next section.

2.3.3 Current Transport Equations

The electrical current in PEM fuel cell
can be split into two parts: ionic current and
electronic current. Protons travel through the
electrolyte to form an ionic current denoted by ie,
while electrons can only be transferred through the
solid matrix of electrodes which results in an
electronic current denoted by is. The current
continuity equation can be written as:
i = is + ie = 0

(14)

Potential equations for both solid and electrolyte

phase are therefore obtained by using Ohms law
given as:

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the COMSOL Conference 2007, Boston

Electron transport: ( s s ) = S s
(15)
Proton transport: ( e e ) = S e
(16)
where is the phase potential, V ; is the
1

effective electric conductivity, S m ; S is the

current source term, A m 3 . The subscript s
denotes the property of solid phase and e
denotes that of electrolyte phase. The source terms
in the electron and proton transport equations
result from the electrochemical reactions, which
occur only in the catalyst layers of anode and
cathode sides given as:
Anode catalyst layer: S e = ja ; S s = j a
(17)
Cathode catalyst layer: S e = jc ; S s = jc
(18)
where j a and jc are the transfer current density
corresponding to electrochemical reaction at the
anode and cathode catalyst layers, which are
formulated by the agglomerate model. In the
catalyst layer, an agglomerate is formed by the
dispersed catalyst, and this zone is filled with
electrolyte [18]. Oxygen is dissolved into the
electrolyte and reaches the catalyst site. The
detailed information of aggolomerate model can
be found in reference[18]. The dissolved gas
concentration at the surface of the agglomerates is
related to the molar fraction in the gas phase
through Henrys Law:

c agg =

P
cgas
H

(19)

where H is the Henrys constant; P is the gas

pressure, pa; c gas is the reactant gas concentration
3

at the surface of the agglomerates, mol / m .

The electrochemical overpotential is defined
as:
(20)
= s e U eq
where U eq is the equilibrium potential. It is zero
on the anode side; on the cathode side, U eq is
given by:
U eq = 1.23 0.9 103 (T 298)

(21)

2.4 Boundary Conditions

Each boundary in model geometry is
labeled by numbers shown in Fig 1.
1. Flow inlet (Boundaries 1 and 20): According to
the modeling geometry, the flow inlet is the

interface between the inlet channel and GDL.

Constant pressure and concentration are assumed
at the inlet and given as:
P = Pin ; O2 = O2 _ in ;
H 2O = H 2O_in ; H 2 = H 2_in

(22)

2. Flow outlet (Boundaries 4 and 18): At the

outlet, a back pressure is set to the atmospheric
pressure. The flow is assumed to be fully
developed.
r r
(23)
p = p ref ; n Ndif = 0

where n is the outward unit normal to the wall

r
and N dif is the diffusive flux of the species.
3. Impermeable walls and surfaces (Boundaries 3,
9, 12 and 19): One of the differences among the
three different momentum equations is the
boundary conditions at the wall. In Brinkman and
Navier-Stokes Models, the no-slip boundary
r
condition can be applied as: u = 0 . In Darcys
model, the slip boundary is adopted on the
impermeable wall. The no-flux condition is set for
the species equation on these boundaries for all
three models given as:
r ur
r ur
r ur
(24)
n N O 2 = 0 ; n N H 2O = 0 ; n N H 2 = 0
ur
ur
where N O 2 and N H 2O are the mass flux of the
species O2 and H2O, respectively, calculated by
the Maxwell-Stafen Equation.
4. Symmetrical boundaries are chosen for
boundaries 5,8,11,14,17,2,7,10,13 and 16.
5. Potential boundary conditions: At the anode
current collector (boundary 3), a reference cell
potential is set to be 0 V; and at the cathode
current collector (boundary 19), the electric
potential is set to be the cell operating potential.
All the other walls of the GDL are set to be
insulated from electricity for the phase potential
equation.

3. Numerical Procedure
The governing equations are solved using
COMSOL Multiphysics based on the finite
element technique. The stationary nonlinear solver
is used since the source terms of the current
conservation equation make the problem strongly
non-linear. Furthermore, the convergence behavior
of this non-linear solver is highly sensitive to the
initial estimate of the solution. To accelerate the
convergence, the following solution procedure is
adopted: the conductive media DC module is first

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the COMSOL Conference 2007, Boston

solved based on the initial setting; secondly,

Darcys Law module is solved using the results
from previous calculation as initial conditions.
After the previous two modules converge, all the
coupled equations including Maxwell-Stefan
diffusion and convection module are solved
simultaneously until the convergence is obtained.
The model is also solved with Darcys Law
replaced by the Brinkman equation, the modified
N-S equation and the pure diffusion equation. It is
noted that the fuel cell models using the Brinkman
equation and Darcys law converge easily even at
high GDL permeability while the modified N-S
equation has the convergence problem at high
GDL permeability.

Figure 2: Polarization Curve: comparison of Darcys

Law, pure diffusion Model and experimental data [19].

Figures 3, 4 and 5 show comparisons of

experimental data with model results calculated
from Darcys Law, the Brinkman equation and the
modified N-S equation for different values of
GDL permeability, respectively. For the common
range of GDL permeability 10-11-10-13 m2, the
polarization curve is not affected whether Darcys
Law, the Brinkman equation or the modified N-S
equation is chosen to describe the momentum
transport in GDL and CL.
Permeability K=10-11 m2
1. 0

Experimental data
Model: Darcy's Law
Model: Brinkman Equation
Model: N-S Equation

4. Results and Discussions

To validate the model, the experimental
data from [19] is used. The related model
parameters are listed in Table 1. Figure 2 shows
comparisons of experimental data with the results
from numerical models. The results from the
model in which Darcys law is used to describe
the momentum transport in GDL predict the
experimental data very well especially at high
current density region. Another dashed line shown
in Fig. 2 is the numerical result calculated from
the pure diffusion model. The cell potential
calculated from the pure diffusion model is lower
than the actual experimental voltage output,
especially at high current density. This is due to
the lack of reactant at the reaction site since the
convective term is ignored in the species transport
equation.

Cell Potential (V)

0. 8

0. 6

0. 4

0. 2

0. 0
0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

Current Density (A/cm2)

Figure 3: Comparison of Experimental data[19] with

Darcys Law, Brinkman Equation and Modified N-S
equation: K=10-11 m2.

Permeability K=10-12 m2
1. 0

Experimental data
Model: Darcy's Law
Model: Brinkman Equation
Model: N-S Equation

Model Results (Darcy's Law)

0. 8

Experimental data
Pure Diffusion

Cell Potential (V)

Cell Potential (V)

0. 8

0. 6

0. 6

0. 4

0. 4

0. 2
0. 2

0. 0
0.0

0
0

0. 4

0. 8

1. 2

1. 6

0.4

0.8

1.2

1.6

2.0

Current Density (A/cm2)

Current Density (A/cm2)

Figure 4: Comparison of Experimental data [19] with

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the COMSOL Conference 2007, Boston

Darcys Law, Brinkman Equation and Modified N-S

equation: K=10-12 m2.
Permeability K=10-13 m2
1. 0

Experimental data
Model: Darcy's Law
Model: Brinkman Equation
Model: N-S Equation

Cell Potential (V)

0. 8

0. 5

0. 3

0. 0
0.0

0.4

0.8

1.2

1.6

Current Density (A/cm2)

Figure 5: Comparison of Experimental data [19] with

Darcys Law, Brinkman Equation and Modified N-S
equation: k=10-13 m2 .

The permeability of the experimental data

is 1.210-12 m2 and the results from numerical
models are plotted for three values of
permeability: 10-11 m2 (Fig. 3), 10-12 m2 (Fig. 4)
and 10-13 m2 (Fig. 5). As shown in Figs. 3 and 4,
the model results predict the experimental data
very well, especially at high current density, in
spite of the fact that the permeability used in the
model is higher or slightly lower than that
provided by experimental data. When permeability
is 10-13 m2, the model results can predict the
experimental data well at low current density as
shown in Fig. 5. At high current density, however,
the voltage predicted by the model is lower than
the actual output. This confirms the fact that
permeability is a parameter affecting the
convective transportation of the flow in porous
media for three models. A low permeability results
in less convection (or transportation) of reactant
and poor performance of cell. If there is enough
fuel for chemical reaction, permeability has little
effect on the performance of fuel cell. Otherwise,
the effects of permeability cannot be ignored.
Based on the numerical study presented
previously, it will be safe to conclude that the
momentum transport in the porous media inside
fuel cell can be described by either Darcys
equation, the Brinkman equation or the modified
N-S equation. In order to compare these three
models more carefully, the order of magnitude of

each term in the modified N-S equation Eq.(1)

such as the inertial term, pressure term, viscous
term and Darcys term is numerically evaluated as
shown in Table 2. The pressure term and Darcys
term are found to maintain high value throughout
the entire computational domain, while the inertial
term is only high at the corner of the flow inlet
and outlet, and the viscous term is high near solid
boundaries. The order of the magnitude of the
inertial term is much lower than other terms for
both low permeability and high permeability, and
it can be therefore ignored. The order of the
magnitude of the viscous term is lower than the
pressure term and Darcys term, but higher than
the inertial term. The viscous term is also found
high when the permeability increases. Therefore,
the viscous term should stay along with the
pressure term and Darcys term to describe the
flow in porous electrodes, which results in the
Brinkman equation.
Additionally, one limitation of Darcys law is
the available boundary conditions. If the boundary
is an impermeable wall, the normal component
r
( v ) of the seepage velocity u = (u, v, w) is
assumed to vanish at the wall, i.e., v = 0 . If the
velocity components u and w are also zero at the
wall, the boundary conditions become no-slip at
the wall, which is often adopted. However,
Darcys equation is of the first-order in the spatial
derivatives so that only one boundary condition
can be applied. If the normal velocity v is set to
zero, the other components of the velocity have
arbitrary values at the wall, thus leading to the slip
boundary condition [21]. Thus no-slip boundary
condition is actually not available for Darys Law.
Another limitation of Darcys law is that it is only
suitable for a free flow in a very low permeability
porous media. Darcys number (Da) is defined as
the ratio of the permeability to the equivalent
diffusion length square. The critical value of
Darcys number is 10-6. According to [22], if the
Da is less than 10-6, the flow can be described by
Darcys law. However, if the Da number is
between 10-6 and 1, the flow should be described
by the Brinkman equation.
Consider the boundary setting problems
with the Darcys equation and the potential
convergence problem with the N-S equation due
to the nonlinear convective term, the Brinkman
equation is therefore recommended here to
describe the momentum transport in porous
electrodes.

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the COMSOL Conference 2007, Boston

4. Conclusions
A two dimensional isothermal single
phase fuel cell model is developed and verified.
Darcys law, the Brinkman equation and the
modified Navier-Stokes equation are evaluated
separately in describing the momentum transport
in porous gas diffusion layer and catalyst layer.
Three values of GDL permeability 10-13, 10-12 and
10-11 m2 are studied for three aforementioned
models. A pure diffusion model is also
investigated where no convective transport term is
considered in the porous media.
Darcys law, the Brinkman equation and
the modified N-S equation show no visible effects
on the polarization curve. The polarization curve
calculated by the pure diffusion model shows a
large concentration loss from intermediate to high
current density under the same operating
conditions. The polarization curve from the
experimental data where the permeability is 1.2 x
10-12 m2 shows no difference from that of K= 10-12
or 10-11 m2 calculated by Brinkman equation.
When the GDL permeability is low (K=10-13 m2),
a sharp potential drop is found at high current
density.
The inertial term, pressure term, viscous
term and Darcys term in the modified N-S
equation are numerically evaluated for low and
high GDL permeability. The inertial term can be
dropped from the N-S equation since it is very
small compared to other terms, and the high value
is only found at the corner of the flow field.
Therefore, the modified N-S equation is reduced
to the Brinkman equation. Since that there are
boundary condition setting problems when using
Darcys law, and the potential convergence
problem for the modified N-S equation, this paper
recommends using the Brinkman equation to
describe the momentum transport in fuel cell
porous electrodes.

5. References
1. Faghri, A. and Guo, Z., Challenges and
Opportunities of Thermal Management Issues
Related to Fuel Cell Technology and Modeling,
Int. J. Heat and Mass Transfer, 48, pp.38913920(2005)
2. Weber, A. and Newman J., Modeling Transport
in Polymer-Electrolyte Fuel Cells, Chem. Rev.,
104, pp.4679-4726(2004)

3. Djilali, N., Computational Modeling of Polymer

Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cells:
Challenges and Opportunities, Energy, 32, pp.
269-280(2007,)
4. Wang, C.Y., Fundamental Models for Fuel Cell
Engineering, Chem. Rev., 104, pp.47274766(2004)
5. Berning, T., Lu, D.M. and Djilali, N., Threedimensional Computational Analysis of Transport
Phenomena in a PEM Fuel Cell, J. of Power
Sources, 106, pp. 284-294(2002)
6. Kazim, A , Liu, H.T. and Forges, P., Modeling
of Performance of PEM Fuel Cells with
Conventional and Interdigitated Flow Fields, J. of
Applied Electrochem., 29, pp. 1409-1416(1999)
7. Liu, X., Tan Y., Tao W., He. Y. and Barbir, F.,
A Hybrid Model of Cathode of PEM Fuel Cell
Using the Interdigitated Gas Distributor, Int. J.
Hydrogen Energy, 31(3), pp. 379-389(2006).
8. Zhou T. and Liu, H., A 3D Model for PEM Fuel
Cells Operated on Reformer, J. of Power Sources,
138, pp. 101-110(2004)
9. Siegel, N. P., Ellis, M. W., Nelson, D. J. and
Spakovsky,
M.R.,
A
Two-Dimensional
Computational Model of a PEMFC with Liquid
Water Transport, J. of Power Sources, 128, pp.
173-184(2004)
10. Um, Sukkee, Wang, C.Y. and Chen, K.S.,
Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of
Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, J.
Electrochem. Soc., 147, pp. A4485-A4493(2000)
11. Lin G. and Nguyen T., A Two-Dimensional
Two-Phase Model of a PEM Fuel Cell, J.
Electrochemical Soc., 153, pp. A372-A382(2006)
12. Wang, Y. and Wang, C.Y., A Nonisothermal
Two-Phase Model for Polymer Electrolyte Fuel
Cells, J. Electrochem. Soc., 153, pp. A1193A1200(2006)
13. Slattery, J.C., Single-Phase Flow Through
Porous Media, AIChE J., 15, pp. 866-872 (1969)
14. Whitaker, S., Fluid Motion in Porous Media,
Ind. Eng. Chem., 61(12), pp.14-28(1969)
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Conservation Equations for Multi-Phase Systems:
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Electrolyte Fuel Cells with Large Density and
Velocity Changes, J. Electrochem. Soc., 152, pp.
A445-A453(2005)

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the COMSOL Conference 2007, Boston

18. Broka, K., Characterization of the Components

of the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell
Techn. Lic. Thesis, Royal Institute of Technology,
Stockholm(1995)
19. He, W., Yi, J.S. and Nguyen, T., Two-phase
Flow Model of the Cathode of PEM Fuel Cell
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46(10), pp. 2053-2064(2000)
20. Cussler, E.L., Diffusion-Mass Transfer in
Fluid Systems Cambridge University Press,
London(1969)
21. Nield, D.A. and Bejan, A., Convection in
Porous Media,
Springer-Verlag, New York
Inc.(1992)
22. Parvazinia, M., Nassehi, V., Wakeman R. and
Ghoreishy M.H.R., Finite Element Modeling of
Flow Through a Porous Medium Between Two
Parallel Plates Using The Brinkman Equation,
Transport in Porous Media, 63, pp.71-90(2006).

F
#

KO2

KH2

K
R
Pin
Pout
T
wO2_in

wH2O_in

wH2_in

7. Appendix

Table 1: Base case model parameters

Variable
*

DO2_N2

DO2_H2O

DH2O_N2

DH2O_N2

DH2_H2O

Name

s
e

Value
-4

Binary
Diffusivity
Binary
Diffusivity
Binary
Diffusivity
Binary
Diffusivity
Binary

1.5

0.2210 (T/293.2)

m /s

0.28210-4/(T/308.1)1.5 m2/s

Diffusivity
Faraday's
constant
Henry's law
constant(oxy
gen)
Henrys law
constant(Hyd
rogen)
permeability
Ideal gas
constant
Pressure at
inlet
Pressure at
outlet
Cell
temperature
Inlet mass
fraction of
oxygen
Cathode inlet
mass fraction
of water
Inlet mass
fraction of
hydrogen
Electrode
porosity
Electronic
conductivity
Ionic
conductivity
Gas viscosity

96487 c/mol
3.2104 Pa. m/mol
3.9104 Pa.m/mol
1.210-12 M2
8.314 J/(K.mol)
1.0133 atm
1.0 atm
60 oC
0.233

0.340

0.3
53 s/m
11 s/m
2.0310-5 kg/(m.s)

Note:
from the reference [20]; # from the
reference [18]; the rest data from reference [19]

0.25610-4 (T/307.5)1.5 m2/s

0.25610-4 (T/307.5)1.5 m2/s
0.91510-4(T/307.1)1.5 m2/s

Table 2: Comparison of the order of each term in the modified N-S equation
For difference GDL permeabilities
Term

Expression

Order

Comments

K=10-13 m2
(permeability)

K=10-11 m2
(permeability)
0 10 4

Inertial term

f (u ) u

0 10

Pressure term

103

Viscous term

2u

0 103

10 105

Darcys term

104

104

106

107

103

106

107

Unevenly distributed and high near the

corner; Increases with the GDL
permeability, but still can be ignored
Spread out the entire computational
domain.
High at the no-slip boundary surface;
Should keep at high permeability
Highest order term compared to other
terms in the entire computational domain