Dynamic behavior of droplet transport on realistic gas diffusion layer with inertial effect via a unified lattice Boltzmann method

The dynamic behavior of liquid droplets on a reconstructed real gas diffusion layer (GDL) surface with the inertial effect produced by three dimensional (3D) flow channel is investigated using an improved pseudopotential multiphase model within unified lattice Boltzmann (ULBM) framework, which can realize thermodynamic consistency and tunable tension. microstructure GDL (Toray-090) including carbon fibers polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) stochastic mixed-wettability model. critical force formulation for Cassie-Wenzel transition droplet derived. effects inertia contact angles transport process 3D are investigated. results show normalized center-of-mass coordinate X may enter wall area or fluctuate around initial position. With increased applied droplet, Y grows faster Z decreases. It found ULBM first time that pushed back into effect. increase decrease angle GDL, both penetration depth in invasion fraction increase. up to 30%.