CFD Online Discussion Forums - PEMFC module + multiple periodic boundary conditions

Hi all,

I guess that my question is rather trivial, but till now I haven't found a good answer. I want to simulate a relatively simple PEMFC configuration, which closely resembles the standard tutorial that is quite popular among Fluent users: basically, I have a single anodic channel which faces a single cathodic channel, with all the related current collectors, gas diffusion layers, catalist layers and the PEM in the middle; the only differences compared to the tutorial are that 1) the geometry is not symmetric (i. e. the two channels are not aligned), so a non conformal interface is required to match the cathodic and anodic parts of the domain; 2) I would like to impose periodic boundary conditions in the cross-stream direction.
The problem is with point 2), since periodic boundary conditions seem not to work as they should. Just to add some additional info:

a) I'm working with Ansys Fluent 13

b) the mesh is made of hexas and it works perfectly if I change the lateral BCs to, e. g., simple walls

c) there should be multiple and adjacent periodic BCs, since the PEMFC module requires the definition of different volume zones (one periodic boundary for each zone)

d) I tried to create each periodic boundary using the TUI commands mesh>modify-zones>make-periodic, and everything looked fine, without errors; however, once initialized the solution, when I tried to run the calculation the following error occurred:

Error: fluent.13.0.0 received a fatal signal (SEGMENTATION VIOLATION)

I'm starting to think that there could be some limitation in the usage of periodic boundaries, either due to the multiple adjacent BCs or specifically linked to the PEMFC module. If someone has some experience or hint about this topic I will be happy to know his/her opinion.

Thanks in advance

V.