Pore Network Study of Water Invasion in a Hydrophobic or Partially Hydrophobic Thin Porous Layer

We present an overview of different aspects of quasi-static water invasion and evaporation in hydrophobic and partially hydrophobic thin porous layers in relation with the water management problem in PEM fuel cells. Influence of contact angle and injection boundary condition on the water invasion pattern are studied as well as the droplet breakthrough problem. The examples considered in this paper illustrate the problems posed by thin systems, a class of systems for which continuum models are likely to lead to poor predictions.