Current state-of-the-art X-ray computed tomography (CT) scans are capable of measuring detailed porous micro-structures. The data can be reconstructed into a computational grid, using adequate segmentation algorithms. This offers the opportunity to simulate physical phenomena on the micro-meter scale and to foster the understanding of the underlying process.

An example is the computation of the gas-diffusion through the porous metallic support of a metal-supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The effective mass-transport of hydrogen could be determined in the measured porous substrate [Reiss2015a]. In addition to that, a corrosion model is implemented which is capable of determining the growth of an oxide layer during operation (see Figure 5). The decreased pore size hinders the gas-diffusion and reduces the efficiency of the SOFC. With this knowledge a prediction of the mass-transfer related losses due to corrosion could be determined [Reiss2015b].