Pressure loss reduction in hydrogen pipelines by surface restructuring

This paper concerns the reduction of pressure losses during pipeline hydrogen transportation, as the cost of hydrogen compression is a significant obstacle for efficient hydrogen pumping on a large-scale basis. The use of organized micro-structures on pipeline walls is proposed to obtain lower values of pressure losses with respect to smooth walls. Three-dimensional micro-structures of a sinusoidal shape are investigated as potentially more efficient counterparts to conventional two-dimensional structures (riblets) developed in aerospace industry. Aerodynamic performance of three-dimensional structures is investigated computationally in terms of both skin friction and pressure drag, two constituents of the total drag. Three-dimensional structures are shown to provide larger total drag reduction than two-dimensional structures for some range of geometrical parameters (14.5% versus 11%). Parametric dependence of both pressure and skin friction drag on structure geometry is analyzed, and an optimum configuration maximizing the total drag reduction is proposed. (C) 2009 Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.