Diffusion characteristics of liquid hydrogen spills in a crossflow field: Prediction model and experiment

Liquid hydrogen (LH2) is currently one of the best ways to store hydrogen energy. A buoyant yet model in a crossflow field was developed to predict LH2 spilling in this work, where the source of LH2 was modeled as a jet and placed near the ground. The prediction model was validated by the experiments that simulated the diffusion characteristics of LH2 with different crossflow velocity by using liquid helium (LHe) in an environment cabin. Results show that predicted centerline trajectories agreed well with concentration cloud map measured by the experiment, where the average deviation is 9.83%. Distinct differences between vapor clouds and concentration clouds were found in experimental results and theoretical predictions, i.e., the concentration cloud is higher than the infrared cloud and vapor cloud. The increasing velocity of the crossflow field inhibits the rise of the LH2 diffusion cloud, thus resulting in a lower central trajectory of the flammable cloud and increasing the danger threshold of LH2 spilling. The velocity of the cloud cluster centerline shows a trend of increasing and then decreasing with the crosswind velocity. The results of the study are expected to give guidelines on the safety threshold and standards for LH2 protection.

Automated summary

This study developed a model to predict LH2 spillage and validated the model's accuracy through experiments. The findings suggest that increasing crossflow velocity can reduce the danger of LH2 spillage. This study is of significance for establishing safety thresholds and standards for LH2 protection.