Safety

In the present work the CFD modeling of cryogenic hydrogen releases in quiescent environment is presented. Two tests from the series of experiments performed in the ICESAFE facility at KIT (Karlsruhe Institute for Technology) have been simulated within the SUSANA project. During these tests hydrogen at temperature of 37K and 36K and at pressure of 19 and 29 bars respectively is released horizontally. The release at the nozzle is sonic and the modeling of the under-expanded jet was performed using two different approaches: the Ewan and Moodie approach and a modification of the Ewan and Moodie approach (modified Ewan and Moodie) that is introduced here and employs the momentum balance to calculate the velocity in the under-expanded jet. Using these approaches a pseudo-diameter is calculated and this diameter is set as source boundary in the simulation. Predictions are consistent with measurements for both experiments with both approaches. However the Ewan and Moodie approach seems to perform better.

A benchmarking exercise on quantitative risk assessment (QRA) methodologies has been conducted within the project HyQRA under the framework of the European Network of Excellence (NoE) HySafe. The aim of the exercise was basically twofold: (i) to identify the differences and similarities in approaches in a QRA and their results for a hydrogen installation between nine participating partners representing a broad spectrum of background in QRA culture and history and (ii) to identify knowledge gaps in the various steps and parameters underlying the risk quantification. In the first step a reference case was defined: a virtual hydrogen refuelling station (HRS) in virtual surroundings comprising housing school shops and other vulnerable objects. All partners were requested to conduct a QRA according to their usual approach and experience. Basically participants were free to define representative release cases to apply models and frequency assessments according their own methodology and to present risk according to their usual format. To enable inter-comparison a required set of results data was prescribed like distances to specific thermal radiation levels from fires and distances to specific overpressure levels. Moreover complete documentation of assumptions base data and references was to be reported. It was not surprising that a wide range of results was obtained both in the applied approaches as well as in the quantitative outcomes and conclusions. This made it difficult to identify exactly which assumptions and parameters were responsible for the differences in results as the paper will show. A second phase was defined in which the QRA was determined by a more limited number of release cases (scenarios). The partners in the project agreed to assess specific scenarios in order to identify the differences in consequence assessment approaches. The results of this phase provide a better understanding of the influence of modelling assumptions and limitations on the eventual conclusions with regard to risk to on-site people and to the off-site public. This paper presents the results and conclusions of both stages of the exercise.

Commercial use of hydrogen on-board fuel cell vehicles necessitates the compression of hydrogen gas up to 700 bar raising unique safety challenges. Potential hazards to be addressed include jet fires from high-pressure hydrogen on-board storage. Previous studies investigated effects of jet fires that occur when pressure relief devices (PRDs) on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles activate. This investigation examines plane jets’ axis switching and flame length accounting for compressibility effects and turbulent combustion near the point of release. Comparison with experimental data and previous plane jet simulation results reveal that combustion process does not affect flow dynamics in compressible region of jet flow. Furthermore a theoretical design of a variable aperture pressure relief device is examined which would enable the blow-down time to be minimized while reducing deterministic separation distances is examined using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques. Design recommendations are suggested for a novel PRD design.

Fuel-cell vehicle run on hydrogen is known that it has better energy efficiency than existing gasoline cars. The vehicles are designed so that hydrogen leaks from the tank are stopped automatically upon detection of hydrogen leakage or detection of impact in a collision. However we investigated the characteristics of hydrogen leakage sound from a hydrogen-leaking vehicle and the threshold of discrimination of hydrogen leakage from noise at a crossing with much traffic to examine a method to rescue people safely depending on the sense of hearing in the event of a continuous hydrogen leak. Here in the discrimination threshold test we conducted the test by using helium which is alternative gas of hydrogen leakage sound. We clarified that hydrogen leakage sound from vehicles has directivity height dependence and distance dependence. Furthermore we confirmed the threshold flow rate for distinguishing hydrogen gas when hydrogen leakage is heard at a distance of 5–10 m from the center of the hydrogen leaking vehicle in a 74 dB traffic noise environment.

The effects of sponge blockage ratio on flame structure evolution and flame acceleration were experimentally investigated in an obstructed cross-section tube filled with stoichiometric hydrogen-air mixture. Experimental results show that the mechanisms responsible for flame acceleration can be in terms of the positive feedback of the unburned gas field generated ahead of the flame the area change of the gap between the sponge and the tube and the interaction between the flame and the shear layer appearing at the sponge left top corner. Especially the last one dominates the flame acceleration and causes its speed to be sonic. Then both the second and third contribute to the violent flame acceleration. In addition the unburned gas pockets can be found in both upstream and downstream regions of the sponge. With increasing blockage ratio the unburned gas pockets disappear easier and the flame acceleration is more pronounced. Moreover the sponge tilts more evidently and resultantly the maximum tilt angle increases.

Flame acceleration in inhomogeneous combustible gas mixture has largely been overlooked despite being relevant to many accidental scenarios. The present study aims to validate our newly developed density-based solver ExplosionFoam for flame acceleration and deflagration-to-detonation transition. The solver is based on the open source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) platform OpenFOAM®. For combustion it uses the hydrogen-air single-step chemistry and the corresponding transport coefficients developed by the authors. Numerical simulations have been conducted for the experimental set up of Ettner et al. [1] which involves flame acceleration and DDT in both homogeneous hydrogen-air mixture as well as an inhomogeneous mixture with concentration gradients in an obstucted channel. The predictions demonstrate good quantitative agreement with the experimental measurements in flame tip position speed and pressure profiles. Qualitatively the numerical simulations reproduce well the flame acceleration and DDT phenomena observed in the experiment. The results have shown that in the computed cases DDT is induced by the interaction of the precursor inert shock wave with the wall close to high hydrogen concentration rather than with the obstacle. Some vortex pairs appear ahead of the flame due to the interaction between the obstacles and the gas flow caused by combustion-induced expansion but they soon disappear after the flame passes through them. Hydrogen cannot be completely consumed especially in the fuel rich region. This is of additional safety concern as the unburned hydrogen can potentially re-ignite once more fresh air is available in an accidental scenario causing subsequent explosions. The results demonstrate the potential of the newly developed density based solver for modelling flame acceleration and DDT in both homogeneous/inhomogeneous hydrogen-air mixture. Further validation needs to be carried out for other mixtures and large-scale cases.

According to the Global technical regulation on hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles (FCV) fuel cell discharge system at the vehicle exhaust system`s point of discharge the hydrogen concentration level shall not exceed 4 % average by volume during any moving three-second time interval during normal operation including start-up and shut down [1]. FC stack need to washout by the concentrated hydrogen as the purge gas and how to exhaust gas without exceeding 4 % is the most concerns. Also how to measure hydrogen pulse of millisecond in exhaust is also the rising up issue. In this paper model of FCV hydrogen discharge system was composed and variety of simple experiments were carried out to control the H2 concentration and release. In the case which the semiconductor sensor with porous material (average size less than quench distance) were applied to check H2 concentration the short pulse of high concentration of H2 in millisecond was hard to find. In this experiment the simple exhaust gas model H2/N2 flow was used instead of Air/H2. In the exhaust gas test experiment was conducted under the atmospheric condition in room temperature with small pressure difference and the fast solenoid valve to create quick hydrogen control. Most of the experiments except the turbulent flow experiments laminar flow is expected to be dominated when steady state condition is satisfied but the most result discussed here is the measurement of H2 concentration during the start point at the time of discharge within seconds. The results showed when H2 was added to N2 flow the boundary layer between N2 and H2 contained the high concentration of H2 at the initial wave front and decrease to reach steady state. This H2 pulse is typical in the FCV exhaust gas and topics of this paper.

Hydrogen is considered to be a very promising potential energy carrier due to its excellent characteristics such as abundant resources high fuel value clean and renewable. Its safety features greatly influence the potential use. Several safety problems need to be analyzed before using in transportation industry. With the development of the tunnel transportation technology the safe use of hydrogen in tunnels will receive a lot of research attentions. In this article the risk associated with hydrogen release from onboard high-pressure vessels and the induced combustion in tunnels was analyzed using the Partially Averaged Navier–Stokes (PANS) turbulence model. The influences of the tunnel ventilation facilities on the hydrogen flow characteristics and the flammable hydrogen cloud sizes were studied. The tunnel layouts were designed according to the subsea tunnel. And a range of longitudinal ventilation conditions had been considered to investigate the hydrogen releases and the sizes of the flammable hydrogen cloud. Then the hydrogen combustion simulation was carried out after the fixed leaking time. The overpressures induced after the ignition of leaking hydrogen were studied. The influences of ventilation and ignition delay time on the overpressure were also investigated. The main aim was to research the phenomena of hydrogen releases and combustion risk inside subsea tunnels and to lay the foundation of risk assessment methodology developed for hydrogen energy applications on transportation.

This paper describes an experimental programme on vented hydrogen deflagrations which formed part of the Hyindoor project carried out for the EU Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking. The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of analytical models used to calculate overpressures following a low concentration hydrogen deflagration. Other aspects of safety were also investigated such as lateral flame length resulting from explosion venting. The experimental programme included the investigation of vented hydrogen deflagrations from a 31 m3 enclosure with a maximum internal overpressure target of 10 kPa (100 mbar). The explosion relief was provided by lightly covered openings in the roof or sidewalls. Uniform and stratified initial hydrogen distributions were included in the test matrix and the location of the ignition source was also varied. The maximum hydrogen concentration used within the enclosure was 14% v/v. The hydrogen concentration profile within the enclosure was measured as were the internal and external pressures. Infrared video images were obtained of the gases vented during the deflagrations. Findings show that the analytical models were generally conservative for overpressure predictions. Flame lengths were found to be far less than suggested by some guidance. Along with the findings the methodology test conditions and corresponding results are presented.

Hydrogen sensors are recognized as a critical element in the safety design for any hydrogen system. In this role sensors can perform several important functions including indication of unintended hydrogen releases activation of mitigation strategies to preclude the development of dangerous situations activation of alarm systems and communication to first responders and to initiate system shutdown. The functionality of hydrogen sensors in this capacity is decoupled from the system being monitored thereby providing an independent safety component that is not affected by the system itself. The importance of hydrogen sensors has been recognized by DOE and by the Fuel Cell Technologies Office’s Safety and Codes Standards (SCS) program in particular which has for several years supported hydrogen safety sensor research and development. The SCS hydrogen sensor programs are currently led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The current SCS sensor program encompasses the full range of issues related to safety sensors including development of advance sensor platforms with exemplary performance development of sensor-related code and standards outreach to stakeholders on the role sensors play in facilitating deployment technology evaluation and support on the proper selection and use of sensors.