Compared with the conventional method, where dozens of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) units are connected in a large-scale stack to support a high power supply, a planar modular short SOFC stack (p-MSSS) with approximately 10-30 cells is considered to be advantageous for establishing a high power supply SOFC stack. Because an optimized p-MSSS is essential to achieve a high performance of the whole power supply stack, to further provide the optimized results for practical application, the efforts are focused the manifold for a specific 10-cell p-MSSS with a counter-flow distribution pattern. Specifically, the aim is to achieve a high flow distribution quality among the piled repeat fuel cell units. Combinations of alternative manifold arrangements for both the fuel and air flow paths, as well as different inlet/outlet manifold positions and radii, are optimized, and resultant conclusions are presented herein. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.