Initial Assessment of the Impact of Jet Flame Hazard  from Hydrogen Cars in Road Tunnels and the Implication on Hydrogen Car Design

Underground or partial underground tunnels form a very important part of modern road transportation systems. As the development of hydrogen cars advancing into the markets, it is unavoidable in the near future that hydrogen cars would become the users of ordinary road tunnels. This paper discusses potential fire scenarios and fire hazards of hydrogen cars in road tunnels and implications on the fire safety measures and ventilation systems in existing tunnels. The information needed for carry out risk assessment of hydrogen cars in road tunnels are discussed. hydrogen has a low ignition energy, and wide flammable range suggesting that leaks have a high probability of ignition and result hydrogen flame. CFD simulations of hydrogen fires in a full scale 5m by 5m square cross-section tunnel were carried out. The effect of the ventilation on controlling the back-layering and the downstream flame are discussed.