MAE Special Seminar: Multiphase Multiscale Transport in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

Abstract: This presentation will show our recent progress in the development of simulation tools, investigation on transport phenomena, and design for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) at Tianjin University. The simulation tools include 1+1D and 3D models for PEMFC dynamics and design optimization, two-phase direct numerical simulation model for droplet dynamics in channel and electrode microstructures, lattice Boltzmann model with real density and viscosity ratios for two-phase dynamics, and multiphase model for ice formation/growth in electrode microstructures. Some transport phenomena involving gas, liquid and ice, and new structural designs such as metal-foam PEMFC also will be discussed.

Bio: Kui Jiao is currently a professor in the State Key Laboratory of Engines and vice dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering at the Tianjin University, China. He received his doctorate in 2011 from the University of Waterloo, Canada, in the field of mechanical engineering. He has been working in a wide variety of research fields including low and intermediate temperature fuel cells, hydrogen storage devices, lithium ion batteries and a thermoelectric generator and turbocharger compressor. He has published more than 100 international journal papers with 2000-plus citations and an h-index of 30. He has been granted a National Natural Science Foundation of China Outstanding Youth Foundation award in 2016 and the United Kingdom Royal Society's Advanced Newton Fellowship in 2018.