Simulation of Hydrogen Dispersion under Cryogenic Release Conditions

The use of hydrogen as fuel should always be accompanied by a safety assessment, in case of an accidental release. To evaluate the potential hazards in a spill accident both experiments and simulations are performed. In the present work, the CFD code, ADREA-HF, is used to simulate the liquefied hydrogen (LH2) spill experiments (test 5, 6, 7) conducted by the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL). In these tests, LH2 was spilled at a fixed rate of 60lt/min in several directions and for several durations. The factors that influence the vapor dispersion under cryogenic release conditions that were examined in this study are: the air humidity, the wind direction, and the slip effect of droplets formed by both the cryogenic liquid and the condensation of air humidity. The numerical results were compared with the experimental measurements, and the effect of each abovementioned factors in the vapor dispersion is being discussed.