A computational approach for the simulation of natural convection in electrochemical cells

Andreas Ehrl, Georg Bauer, Volker Gravemeier, Wolfgang A. Wall

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

A novel computational approach for the numerical simulation of electrochemical systems influenced by natural convection phenomena is presented. A stabilized finite element framework for multiion transport mechanisms including convection, diffusion and migration coupled to an incompressible flow solver is developed. The role of a galvanostatic Butler-Volmer condition including the interaction of ionic concentration at the surface of the electrode and the surface overpotential is emphasized, to obtain a non-uniform surface overpotential distribution. Additionally, a three-dimensional rotationally-symmetric boundary condition is used for modeling rotating cylinder electrodes. The computational framework is tested for various numerical examples exhibiting two- and three-dimensional electrochemical cell configurations including dilute CuSO4 electrolyte solutions with and without excess of supporting H2SO4 electrolyte.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)764-785
Number of pages22
JournalJournal of Computational Physics
Volume235
DOIs
StatePublished - 5 Feb 2013

Keywords

  • Butler-Volmer-condition
  • Computational electrochemistry
  • Finite element method
  • Galvanostatic constraint condition
  • Natural convection

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