Numerical simulation and thermal stress analysis of direct internal reforming SOFCs

Jiawei Ren, Yuqing Wang*, Yixiang Shi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Hydrocarbon fuels such as CH4 can be converted into H2 and CO by direct internal reforming (DIR) processes within the anode of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). DIR-SOFCs can reduce system complexity and capital cost due to the elimination of external reformers. However, the strong endothermic reforming reactions at the cell entrance may result in large thermal stress, leading to premature failure. In this study, a numerical simulation study was carried out to analyze the effect of operating conditions and cell structures on temperature, composition and thermal stress distributions in DIR-SOFCs. A two-dimensional axisymmetric model was developed by considering the coupling effects of the chemical/electrochemical reactions; transport processes of mass, charge, or heat; and thermal mechanical stress. The failure probability of the cell was estimated by stress distributions. Simulation results show that the increase of the steam-to-carbon ratio and operating voltage leads to higher thermal stresses and higher failure probability. The introduction of a metal supportive layer may release the thermal stress problem at severe DIR-SOFC operation conditions, which leads to a flatter temperature distribution and smaller failure probability compared to anode-supported SOFCs.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)399-409
Number of pages11
JournalInternational Journal of Green Energy
Volume19
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Keywords

  • Solid oxide fuel cell
  • direct internal reforming
  • metal support
  • multi-physics coupling
  • thermal stress

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