Effect of distance of vertical barrier wall and release temperature on the hydrogen jet flame width and temperature distribution induced by impingement of ignited release of cryogenic hydrogen

Abstract

Cryogenic storage option is one of the important ways of storing hydrogen, but under-expanded ignited releases of cryogenic hydrogen could easily lead to jet fires, causing serious damage to people and properties. Barrier walls are important means to reduce the severity of cryogenic hydrogen jet flames, however, its effect on the cryogenic hydrogen jet flame and related temperature distribution are still unclear. In this work, the effect of the distance of barrier wall (0.20, 0.25, 0.30, 0.35 and 0.40 m) and release temperature (140, 180, 220, 260 and 300 K) on the hydrogen jet flame width and temperature distribution is investigated experimentally. It is found that the flame width in the horizontal and vertical direction and the temperature on the vertical barrier wall increase with the decrease of the distance to the nozzle and release temperature. The normalized flame width and inverse excess maximum temperature on the barrier wall increases linearly with the scaled distance considering nozzle diameter and release temperature. The temperature distribution is normalized as Gaussian distribution both in the horizontal and vertical direction, while the excess temperature is higher upward than that of downward. The results can provide a theoretical basis and data support for the blocking of jet fires formed by cryogenic hydrogen ignited releases.