Numerical analysis of thermal stresses in a new design of microtubular stack

Abstract

Microtubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (mSOFCs) are one of the most promising and efficient devices that convert chemical energy of fuels into electrical energy. However, mSOFC stacks work at high operating temperature over 650°C, which leads to thermally induced mechanical stresses and in consequence may cause failure of stack components. In order to reduce the local thermal gradients and prevent high stresses in the stack components, it is desirable to study the effect of stack design on its performance. For this purpose a 3D numerical approach was developed to estimate thermal expansion of fuel cell inside an mSOFC stack and to reduce the associated experimental efforts and costs. Initially, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model was used to calculate the temperature and species concentration profiles. During the second modeling step temperature profiles were used in the thermo-mechanical model to calculate the thermal stress distribution in the mSOFC stack. The results maximum thermal axial elongation that equals 1.4 mm for the mSOFC stack. The modelled maximum radial elongation was equal to 0.5 mm in the contact areas of the cylindrical housing and manifolds on the fuel inlet side.