When: Monday,Aug 31, 2026, 11:00 AM
Where: QNC 1501
Pore-scale Multiphase Flow and Transport in Electrochemical Energy Devices
Abstract :
Electrochemical energy devices exhibit complex interactions between fluid flow, mass transport, electrochemical reactions, and porous media across multiple length scales. While two-phase flow and liquid-water management are particularly important in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), redox flow batteries (RFBs) present a different set of transport challenges, where reactive transport and the interplay between free-flow channels and porous electrodes play a central role in determining device performance. In both systems, establishing a consistent link between channel-scale flow and transport and the underlying pore-scale physics is essential for developing predictive whole-device models.
This study presents some aspects of an ongoing modelling effort aimed at integrating different components of electrochemical energy devices through physics-based multiscale approaches. Reduced-order representations of free-flow regions, including gas or electrolyte channels, are coupled with porous-media descriptions of electrodes and reactive interfaces. For PEMFCs, the framework considers the two-phase transport and the associated effects of liquid-water distribution on reactant transport. For RFBs, the focus is placed on reactive species transport and the coupling between free-flow channels and porous electrodes, including the influence of electrode microstructure on flow distribution, mass transfer, and electrochemical reaction.
A central objective is to develop reduced-order models that retain the essential information obtained from pore-scale simulations while remaining sufficiently efficient for whole-system calculations. The study therefore represents an intermediate step toward a unified, pore-scale-informed modelling framework capable of describing the coupled behaviour of channels, porous electrodes, and electrochemical interfaces.
Biography
Vahid Niasar is Professor and Chair of Subsurface Engineering and Porous Media Physics in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Manchester, where he also serves as Deputy Head of Research in the School of Engineering. He joined the University of Manchester in 2014. He is currently President of the International Society for Porous Media.
Vahid's research combines pore-scale physics, multiscale modelling, imaging and experiments to understand multiscale multiphase flow, transport, reaction in porous media and its applications across both natural and engineered systems. Through his research group, the Integrated Multiscale Porous Media Research (IMPRES) group, his work spans a broad range of applications, from subsurface systems (including groundwater, CCS, UHS, Geothermal) to manufactured porous materials for electrochemical energy devices (PEMFC, Redox flow batteries). The latter will be the focus of his presentation at the University of Waterloo.