Performance and Thermal Stress Evaluation of Full-Scale SOEC Stack Using Multi-Physics Modeling Method

A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method coupled with multi-physics phenomena is developed and applied for a 10-cell full-scale SOEC stack in this study. Effects of gas flow patterns, operating temperature, and manifold configurations are simulated and analyzed for stack performance and thermal stress. It is demonstrated the hydrogen production and thermal stress obtained in cross-flow mode stack are about 8% and 36 MPa higher compared to that in other flow cases. Furthermore, it is found the temperature gradient is the predominant factor affecting the thermal stress distribution and failure probability. Lastly, a stack arrangement with 2-inlet and 1-outlet is proposed and analyzed to enhance gas distribution uniformity within the cell channels. The findings of this study hold significance as a reference for investigating the impact on the SOEC stack performance and thermal stress distribution.