On the CFD modelling of hydrogen dispersion at low-Reynolds number release in closed facility

S.G. Giannissi, I.C. Tolias, Daniele Melideo, D Baraldi, Volodymyr Shentsov, DV Makarov, Vladimir Molkov, A. G. Venetsanos

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)
175 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Hydrogen release inside closed facilities could cause explosions with harmful consequences. Safety assessment should be performed, in order to design prevention and mitigation measures in case of such an accident. A numerical study for helium (as hydrogen surrogate) accumulation inside a closed facility representative of a real-scale garage at low release rate is conducted. Due to the nature of the examined flow several turbulence modelling approaches (RANS and LES type) and the laminar approach are examined with the aim to evaluate their predictive capabilities in flows resulting from low-Reynolds number leaks. Best practice guidelines are followed in the simulations, several sensitivity studies are performed and different grid types are examined. The comparison of computational results with experimental data shows that RANS and LES approaches reproduce well the gas distribution inside the facility, while laminar approach predicts more enhanced stratification at the release phase. Statistical Performance Measures are used to evaluate the models and narrower acceptable ranges are suggested for releases in indoor configurations compared to open environments.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages17
JournalInternational Journal of Hydrogen Energy
Early online date10 Oct 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished online - 10 Oct 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The research leading to these results is financially supported by the SUSANA project, which has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme ( FP7/2007–2013 ) for the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative under grant agreement n° FCH-JU-325386 .The authors would like also to thank the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) for providing the experimental data.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC

Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • indoor dispersion
  • hydrogen
  • safety
  • RANS
  • LES
  • laminar

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'On the CFD modelling of hydrogen dispersion at low-Reynolds number release in closed facility'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this