Numerical simulation of droplet dynamics in a micro-channel of a proton exchange membrane fuel

In this work, the droplet behaviour in a micro-channel of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell was simulated. The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) was used to keep track of the deformation of the liquid-gas interface. A three-dimensional case was considered and a D3Q19 scheme was utilized to simulate a two phase droplet in a in a hydrophobic channel. The Shan-Chen model was employed in this study because of its simplicity. Visualization of droplet shape is obtained for different flow rates. The hysteresis between the advancing and receding contact angle is clearly observed. The numerical results show that LBM is an alternative to ordinary CFD approaches.