Modeling of thermal stresses and probability of survival of tubular SOFC

The temperature profile generated by a thermo-electro-chemical model was used to calculate the thermal stress distribution in a tubular solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The solid heat balances were calculated separately for each layer of the MEA (membrane electrode assembly) in order to detect the radial thermal gradients more precisely. It appeared that the electrolyte undergoes high tensile stresses at the ends of the cell in limited areas and that the anode is submitted to moderate tensile stresses. A simplified version of the widely used Weibull analysis was used to calculate the global probability of survival for the assessment of the risks related to both operating points and load changes. The cell at room temperature was considered and revealed as critical. As a general trend, the computed probabilities of survival were too low for the typical requirements for a commercial product. A sensitivity analysis showed a strong influence of the thermal expansion mismatch between the layers of the MEA on the probability of survival. The lack of knowledge on mechanical material properties as well as uncertainties about the phenomena occurring in the cell revealed itself as a limiting parameter for the simulation of thermal stresses.