Deformation of the porous media has influence on performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The stress distributions and deformation of the porous media are major factors for safe and efficient operation in the PEMFC. In this paper, nonlinear contact analysis of air plate and porous media is performed under a working condition to predict the performance characteristics of the air plates. Two kinds of models are suggested for this study. The first porous media model has nonlinear material properties. The second model has nonlinear material properties with contact condition between porous media and air plate. The numerical analysis results of the two models are somewhat different. It is shown that the nonlinear contact analysis is required for the design study of the PEMFC.