Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: Concepts, Methods, and Challenges

Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: Concept, Methods, and Challenges provides a concise guide to the modeling of PEM fuel cells. The book offers detailed methodologies, codes, and algorithms on every aspect of PEM fuel cells, from cold start to degradation. Chapters cover the development, basic principles, and components of PEM fuel cells, discuss the transport phenomena and mathematical formulation of macro-scale PEM fuel cell models, single cell and stack-level models, and model validation, and explain multi-phase transport modeling in PEM fuel cells, including different multiphase models like flow in gas flow channels, porous electrodes, and multi-phase model validation. The book also addresses multiphase mixture formulation, finite-volume, direct numerical simulation, Lattice Boltzmann, and pore network models, along with a section on modeling the cold start process of PEM fuel cells, including the non-isothermal transient cold start model, reduced-dimensional transient model, and the impact of different parameters on the cold start performance. Final sections cover the degradation and lifetime modeling of PEM fuel cells, including stress-induced degradation mechanisms, physics-based and data-driven modeling methods, and coupled performance-degradation models. Finally, recent progress on multi-scale and multi-dimensional modeling of PEM fuel cells, including micro and nano-scale modeling and multi-scale coupled models, is covered.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction to PEM Fuel cell 2. Single-phase transport modeling in PEM fuel cell 3. Multi-phase transport modeling in PEM fuel cell 4. Modeling the cold start process of PEM fuel cells 5. Degradation and life-time modeling of PEM fuel cell 6. Recent progress on multi-scale and multi-dimensional modeling of PEM fuel cell

About the Author :
Prof. Jiang is the first author and chief editor of this book. He worked in US and German fuel cell industries/institutions for many years before taking on a leadership role in Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion (GIEC), CAS. Prof. Jiang has been active in the research fields of fuel cell and battery science and technology, thermo-fluids, heat, and mass transfer enhancement, and CFD etc. He has authored about 200 peer-reviewed journal papers, 2 books, and 6 book chapters. He holds 30 China invention patents and 30 computational softwares. During his work (with Prof. Chao-Yang Wang) in the Electrochemical Engine Center at the Pennsylvania State University, he, as a major investigator, developed the computational modeling software for PEM fuel cell s, which has been widely adopted by Toyota, Honda, Nissan, GM etc. and used for the research & development of advanced automotive PEM fuel cell engines. Dr. Mohmed Ahmed Dafalla received his BS at Sudan University of Science and Technology (SUST), and his MS and PhD from Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), respectively. He conducted his Ph.D. and Postdoctoral studies under the supervision of Prof. Fangming Jiang. He currently serves as special research assistant at Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion (GIEC) focusing on developing new and novel numerical computational tools for coupled performance-degradation phenomena in PEM fuel cells. His research career has been directed toward the research and development of fuel cell systems such as PEM fuel cells and high-temperature PEM fuel cells, covering different topics including the fuel cell performance, degradation, and cold start-up. He published a total of 17 SCI/EI articles. Dr. Wei graduated from Zhejiang University with a Doctor's degree in Chemical Process Machinery in 2015. Since 2016, she has been working in Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and engaged in research on electrochemical energy systems. Dr. Wei has made important achievements in cold-start, flow field optimization, design, and assembly of PEM fuel cell as well as membraneless direct methanol fuel cell technology. She has undertaken 1 National Natural Science Foundation project, 2 science and technology projects of Guangdong Province, and published 13 SCI/EI articles. Fengping Hu is a researcher specializing in electrocatalyst development for proton exchange membrane fuel cells and water electrolysis. She received her Ph.D. from Sun Yat-sen University and later earned a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Toronto. Her research spans energy conversion materials and petrochemical technologies, including work at the Power Environmental Energy Research Institute in the United States. She has authored over 30 peer-reviewed papers in related fields.