A New Sensitivity Study of Thermal Stress Distribution for a Planar Solid Oxide Fuel Cell

Converting chemical energy into electricity is done by an electro-chemical device known as a fuel cell. Thermal stress is caused at high operating temperature between 700 oC to 1000 oC of SOFC. Thermal stress causes gas escape, structure variability, crack initiation, crack propagation, and cease operation of the SOFC before its lifetime. The aim of this study is to present a method that predicts the initiation of cracks in an anisotropic porous planar SOFC. The temperature and stress distribution are calculated. The code uses the generated data, stress intensity factor, and the J-integral of the materials to predict the initiation of the crack inside the porous anode and cathode. The results show that the highest thermal stress occurs at the upper corners of cathode and at the lower corners of the anode. In addition, the thickness of cathode electrode on the left side is increased by 1.5 %. Finally, the crack initiation occurs on the left side between the upper and lower corners of the cathode.