Hydrogen Jet Research Articles

Experimental Study on Cryogenic Compressed Hydrogen Jet Flames

Cryogenic compressed hydrogen (CcH2) technology combines the advantages of high pressure and low temperature to achieve high hydrogen storage density without liquefying the hydrogen, which has broad application prospects. However, the safety concerns related to cryogenic hydrogen need to be carefully addressed beforehand. In the present work, cryogenic hydrogen jet flames are experimentally investigated for various release pressures and initial temperatures. The flame length and thermal radiation flux were measured for horizontally releasing with nozzle diameters of 0.5–2 mm, temperatures ranging from 93 to 298 K, and initial pressures of 2–10 MPa. The results show that the flame length is dependent on the nozzle diameter, stagnation pressure and temperature. At a given pressure, the flame length, size and total radiant power increase with decreasing temperature, which is attributed to the lower jet flow velocity and higher density of low-temperature hydrogen. The normalized flame length Lf/D is correlated with the pressure ratio and temperature ratio. The correlation can be used to predict the flame length at various hydrogen pressures and temperatures. The normalized flame length of the cryogenic hydrogen jet flame is greater than that of the room-temperature hydrogen jet flame. The radiative heat flux of the flame can be predicted by the mass flow rate of the jet flow.

Large-scale investigations of the thermal radiation of hydrogen jet flames

Large-scale investigations of the thermal radiation of hydrogen jet flames

An efficient dimensionality reduction approach for modelling cryogenic hydrogen release

This study develops a precise and cost-effective method for reducing the complexity of cryogenic hydrogen unintended release. For this purpose, the dominant modes of a well-characterised cryogenic hydrogen jet (Sandia National Laboratories), with stagnation pressure and temperature fixed at 5 bar and 50 K, are extracted using the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method. Building on validating the large eddy simulation (LES) against experimental measurements, the velocity field within the LES results is analysed near the release point. The mass fraction half-width of cryogenic hydrogen jets grows linearly with a slope of 0.1115 against the downstream distances, resembling room-temperature jets. The first 10 extracted modes from 500 LES snapshots demonstrate dominance over the remaining modes. In addition, this study evaluates the flammable gas dispersion using LES and 10-mode POD, showing POD effectively identifies high-risk areas within hydrogen's flammability range. Minor deviations (2.1–3.3%) confirm POD's reliability for hazard assessment compared with LES. Furthermore, an in-depth analysis is performed on the radial distributions of hydrogen mass fraction and centreline hydrogen mole fraction.

Experimental study on dynamic response performance of hydrogen sensor in confined space under ceiling

With the advancement of Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCVs), detecting hydrogen leaks is critically important in facilities such as hydrogen refilling stations. Despite its significance, the dynamic response performance of hydrogen sensors in confined spaces, particularly under ceilings, has not been comprehensively assessed. This study utilizes a catalytic combustion hydrogen sensor to monitor hydrogen leaks in a confined area. It examines the effects of leak size and placement height on the distribution of hydrogen concentrations beneath the ceiling. Results indicate that hydrogen concentration rapidly decreases within a 0.5–1.0 m range below the ceiling and declines more gradually from 1.0 to 2.0 m. The study further explores the attenuation pattern of hydrogen concentration radially from the hydrogen jet under the ceiling. By normalizing the radius and concentration, it was determined that the distribution conforms to a Gaussian model, akin to that observed in open space jet flows. Utilizing this Gaussian assumption, the model is refined by incorporating an impact reflux term, thereby enhancing the accuracy of the predictive formula.

Investigation of unswept ramp system with lobe shape nozzle for fuel mixing of hydrogen jet at a scramjet engine

The role of efficient fuel mixing and a stable flame holder is crucial in enhancing the performance and capabilities of scramjet engines for high-speed flight. The present research paper has tried to disclose the fuel mixing efficiency of 3-lobe annular nozzle on the mixing mechanism of the fuel jet behind the strut. In addition, using internal air jet flow for increasing the circulation strength and fuel mixing behind the strut is also examined in this study. Numerical simulation of the flow and fuel jet behind the strut is done to reveal the main physics related to the mechanism of fuel mixing inside the combustor with the proposed injection system. The results of our simulation show that using annular 3-lobe fuel jet improve the fuel mixing via production of the multiple vortex pairs within the combustor behind the strut. The use of internal air jet also enhances the fuel mixing efficiency up to 90% in combustor of scramjet engine.

Absorptive corrections to the electromagnetic form factor in high-energy elastic proton-proton scattering

Recently, it was noted that absorptive corrections to the electromagnetic form factor in high-energy proton-proton scattering are important for the theoretical interpretation of the p↑p and p↑A analyzing power AN(t) measurements with the Hydrogen Jet Target polarimeter (HJET) at RHIC. Here, a concise expression for the absorptive correction was derived within the eikonal approach. The resulting analysis reveals a systematic bias, nearly independent of the beam energy, in the experimental determination of the real-to-imaginary ratio ρ when absorption effects are overlooked in the data analysis. Quantification of this bias, as ρmeas=ρ+(0.036±0.016)bias, was achieved using a Regge fit applied to available proton-proton measurements of ρmeas(s) and σtotmeas(s). Considering the potential impact of such an effect on the experimentally determined AN(t), one may enhance consistency between the HJET and STAR measurements of the hadronic spin-flip amplitude. While the sign of the bias in the value of ρ aligns with the anticipated effective increase in the proton charge radius in pp scattering due to absorption, it amplifies the observed discrepancy between σtotmeas and ρmeas values at s=13 TeV as measured in the TOTEM experiment. Evaluation (using published TOTEM data) of the measured proton-proton dσ/dt dependence on the absorptive corrections indicated that possible soft photon corrections to the hadronic amplitude slope may be essential for such data analysis. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Experimental and theoretical study on the burning and pulsation behaviors of hydrogen-containing and hydrocarbon jet flames

Hydrogen-containing and hydrocarbon fuels have been widely used in industrial production. Jet fires involving these fuels emerge frequently after leakage or explosion accidents for gas pipelines and processing equipments. To reveal the influencing mechanisms of inclination angle on the pulsation behaviors of jet fires, the burning experiments of hydrogen, syngas, methane and propane jet fires with a nozzle diameter (D) of 15 mm, inclination angles (θ0) of 0°∼90°, fuel flow rates (Qf)of 2.5–40 L/min were conducted. The variations of the global and spatial pulsation frequencies with inclination angle and fuel flow rate are sensitive to the fuel types. Subharmonic pulsation was found at large fuel flow rates (Qf>Qcri). For hydrogen-containing jet flame, a transition from natural pulsation to subharmonic pulsation occurs at a critical inclination angle (θcri). In this case, the transition height where the local pulsation frequency begins to be dominated by subharmonic pulsation, increases with the inclination angle. The local Richardson number (Riy) at the transition height is close to 1. The interaction between the inner and outer vortices increases with the decrease of inclination angle, resulting in decreased natural frequency at the nozzle exit. With the theoretical velocity and flame width at y/D = 2, a unified dimensionless model of natural pulsation frequency was developed, Sty=0.411/Fry0.5, reasonably predicting the natural pulsation frequency of jet flames under different conditions.

Experimental study on flame behaviors and dynamic parameters induced by hydrogen jet flame in an enclosed compartment

Hydrogen is considered as one of the most superior future energy carriers due to its clean, low-carbon and extensive sources. However, a wide flammable concentration range and low ignition energy of hydrogen can cause potential safety hazards, including hydrogen jet flames. Currently, a series of hydrogen jet flame experiments were performed in an enclosed compartment with internal dimensions of 1.82 m (L) × 1.99 m (W) × 1.85 m (H), using different nozzle diameters and stagnation pressures. The results indicate that the combustion process can be divided into four stages, including growth stage, relatively stable stage, stretching stage, and self-extinguishing stage. The oxygen concentration in an enclosed compartment decreases rapidly with increasing stagnation pressure. The self-extinguishing time is positively correlated with the compartment volume and negatively correlated with the mass flow rate. Based on thermal equilibrium analysis, the correlations for average gas temperature rise and oxygen concentration were proposed.

A LES study on the instantaneous H2 jet-ignited combustion characteristics of H2/NH3 mixtures

This paper presents a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) study investigating jet flame ignition characteristics to achieve stable ammonia combustion for novel applications in gaseous ammonia/hydrogen-fueled engines with an active prechamber. The study investigated three cases with initial global equivalence ratios of 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0. Two main ignition modes were proposed, and five stages of coupled flame propagation processes were identified. The oscillation of supersonic hydrogen jet flame was investigated. The modes of flame-vortex interaction including vortex ring formation, along with the mechanism of highly reactive zone formation, were proposed. The effects of reactivity and turbulence transition on piloted ammonia flame were investigated to attain stable ammonia combustion and achieve a high heat release rate. The results showed that oscillations in the jet flame were strengthened at low global equivalence ratios with high hydrogen mass ratios. Enhancing propagation of initial and secondary vortex rings broadened highly reactive zones. Vorticity dissipated more rapidly at low equivalence ratios, leading to a stratified structure and enhanced piloted spherical flame. The Unsteady Flamelet Ignition Prediction (UFIP) sub-model of combustion was verified for the piloted ammonia flame, enabling a more comprehensive discussion of flame propagation tendencies.

Experimental Study of the Dynamics of Lean Premixed Hydrogen Flames in a Multi Jet Combustor

Abstract In this study, the flame dynamics of lean premixed hydrogen jet flames are experimentally investigated. Acoustic and optical measurements are used to capture the response of a bundle of jet flames to acoustic forcing. Using helium as a fuel surrogate, we simulate the change in acoustic properties in the burner during the determination of cold burner transfer matrix measurements. We investigate the influence of the equivalence ratio and the addition of methane as well as the interaction of the individual flames to evaluate the scalability of the results to systems with more flames. It is shown that the changes in the dynamic flame response can primarily be explained by the flame length, which changes both with the methane share and with the equivalence ratio. It can be observed that with small changes in the equivalence ratio, the flame length and the flame transfer function (FTF) change in the same way as with a small change in gas composition. To assess the scalability of these results, we deactivate some of the jet flames and analyze how the overall response to acoustic forcing changes. We find that the FTF phase is not affected by the number of active flames. Analyzing the respective gain values, significantly stronger responses are measured for a few flames, but only small difference can be measured above a certain number of neighboring flames so that the lab scale results can also be expected to be valid for industrial configurations with a high number of flames.

Experimental Study on the Influence of Ignition Position on the Overpressure of Hydrogen Jet Flame.

The accidental leakage of hydrogen poses a significant barrier to the widespread adoption and development of hydrogen energy due to the potential risks of fire, explosion, and jet fire hazards. Experimental investigations have been conducted on the process of jet fires formed by igniting hydrogen jet streams after accidental releases in scenarios such as high-pressure hydrogen gas storage tanks and hydrogen transmission pipelines. These experiments utilized a release pipe with a diameter of 10 mm and a length of 0.75 m, along with three pressure sensors, to study the influence of release pressure and ignition position on jet flame overpressure and flame propagation. Extensive tests at 1.5 MPa yielded a hydrogen flammability map containing two nonflammable zones and one flammable zone, along with a graph illustrating the relationship between overpressure and ignition points. Furthermore, experiments conducted at ignition positions of 0.05, 0.5 and 1.0 m under release pressures ranging from 6 to 10 MPa revealed that release pressure had no significant effect, while ignition position notably influenced the waveform and peak of the shockwave. Additionally, a peak shockwave reaching 30 kPa was observed at the downstream of the pipe outlet when ignited at 0.05 m, far exceeding the threshold of 24 kPa associated with fatalities. This research aims to provide valuable insights for safety design and protection distance considerations in scenarios involving hydrogen release and ignition.

Study on Thermal Radiation Characteristics and the Multi-Point Source Model of Hydrogen Jet Fire

Study on Thermal Radiation Characteristics and the Multi-Point Source Model of Hydrogen Jet Fire

Numerical simulation of high-pressure jet fire in on-board hydrogen storage cylinders under fire conditions

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs) may cause fires in the event of an accident. When the high-pressure hydrogen storage cylinders are exposed to fire for a long time, there will be a risk of catastrophic consequences such as leakage, jet fire and explosion. Fire test is the main method to study the safety performance of hydrogen storage cylinders. During the firing process, the wall and internal temperature of the hydrogen storage cylinder rise gradually, and the thermally activated pressure relief device (TPRD) of the cylinder reaches a certain temperature and then releases high-pressure hydrogen to prevent the cylinder from bursting. As the hydrogen storage cylinder is in the fire environment, the release of high-pressure hydrogen will be ignited to form a jet fire and cause damage to personnel and equipment. In this paper, CFD software Fluent was used to numerically simulate the local fire test of the hydrogen storage cylinder with high-temperature air as the fire source. The variation law of cylinder wall temperature, gas temperature and pressure inside the cylinder, and the activation of TPRD were analyzed. At the same time, on the basis of the fire test simulation, a high-pressure hydrogen jet fire simulation numerical model caused by the TPRD action was established. The velocity field, temperature field and hydrogen concentration distribution of the jet fire were obtained, and the overpressure generated by the jet fire and the flame length size were analyzed. The results show that the high-pressure hydrogen released by TPRD was ignited under the fire condition to produce a jet flame and generated an overpressure in the jet direction, and the influence range of the overpressure was smaller than the influence range of the jet flame.

Ab initio density response and local field factor of warm dense hydrogen

We present quasi-exact ab initio path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) results for the partial static density responses and local field factors of hydrogen in the warm dense matter regime, from solid density conditions to the strongly compressed case. The full dynamic treatment of electrons and protons on the same footing allows us to rigorously quantify both electronic and ionic exchange–correlation effects in the system, and to compare the results with those of earlier incomplete models such as the archetypal uniform electron gas or electrons in a fixed ion snapshot potential that do not take into account the interplay between the two constituents. The full electronic density response is highly sensitive to electronic localization around the ions, and our results constitute unambiguous predictions for upcoming X-ray Thomson scattering experiments with hydrogen jets and fusion plasmas. All PIMC results are made freely available and can be used directly for a gamut of applications, including inertial confinement fusion calculations and the modeling of dense astrophysical objects. Moreover, they constitute invaluable benchmark data for approximate but computationally less demanding approaches such as density functional theory or PIMC within the fixed-node approximation.

DNS on flame and flow characteristics of a H2-O2-H2O lifted flame with inclining impinging jets geometry

Hydrogen-fueled gas turbines play one of the key roles in future carbon-neutral energy structure. Due to hydrogen’s high flame speed and extreme flame temperature, design of burners applying hydrogen as fuel is of challenge. In this work, we conduct direct numerical simulations to investigate a non-premixed steam-diluted oxygen/hydrogen combustion, which is formed by inclined impinging fuel and oxidizer jets injected by sub-millimeter nozzles. This configuration inherently prevent flashback and has a higher mixing efficiency enhanced by jet impingement, thereby leveraging advantages of both conventional premixed and non-premixed configurations. The flame is lifted flame held at the jet impinging position far away from the wall boundary. The most intensive mixing process occurs at the outer sides of the two branches of hydrogen jet after impinging, forming the flame base and resulting in an edge-flame configuration. A larger jet inclination angle leads to more effective bulk turbulence mixing because of the increased mixing volume, thereby enhancing combustion completeness. Simultaneously, it results in lower wall heat flux due to gentler upstream recirculation of burnt products. Chemical explosive mode analysis is conducted to analyze the combustion procedure from ignition to burnt out. The flame is held by the recirculation of high-temperature burnt products upstream of the impingement position, and its structure is primarily formed by the simultaneous ignition of a widespread explosive mixture enhanced by intense turbulence.

Effect of injection and ignition strategy on an ammonia direct injection–Hydrogen jet ignition (ADI-HJI) engine

High-efficiency, low-emission ammonia-hydrogen engines with low hydrogen energy share (XH2) help promote a carbon-neutral transition in heavy-duty, long-distance transportation. In this study, numerical investigations were carried out on a hydrogen jet ignition (HJI) ammonia engine to study the effects of ammonia port fuel injection (PFI) and ammonia direct injection (ADI) on the engine performance, including combustion and emission characteristics, at XH2 = 3 % with varied spark timing (ST). The results show that the ADI mode has higher volumetric efficiency, lower in-cylinder temperature, and lower heat transfer loss compared with the PFI mode, and more retarded injection can further increase the volumetric efficiency and reduce the temperature. ADI mode results in a more inhomogeneous fuel distribution and a lower local equivalence ratio, with hydrogen consumed earlier than ammonia, potentially resulting in more rapid early-stage combustion. ADI mode with multiple injections is more conducive to engine performance than single injection and can achieve the higher indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) and indicated thermal efficiency (ITE) than PFI mode. By further optimizing ST, the ADI mode improves ITE by 2.8 % and reduces NO emission by 70 % compared with the PFI mode under acceptable NH3 and N2O emission conditions.

Numerical Simulation on Combustion Characteristics of Methane Air Premixed Flame Impacted by Hydrogen jet

Abstract Low-concentration coalbed methane is an efficient and clean unconventional natural gas with abundant reserves. It can greatly lessen the problem of energy scarcity when used to produce combustion power. Nevertheless, the engine finds it challenging to burn the CH4 directly due to its low and fluctuating concentration. This study suggests using a hydrogen jet to ignite low-concentration coalbed methane. The simulation method is used in this paper. To investigate the effects of various ignition injection strategies on the combustion characteristics of low concentration coalbed methane ignited by a hydrogen jet, a constant volume bomb model was developed. The results show that when the ignition and hydrogen injection interval is 2.0 ms, the cold jet of hydrogen does not burn immediately when it reaches the premixed flame, and there is a transition process from the premixed flame to the jet flame. The larger the interval between ignition and hydrogen injection, the more waste gas is produced after the premixed flame combustion, which has a certain inhibition effect on the formation of the jet flame. With the decrease in the interval between ignition and hydrogen injection, the combustion duration is obviously shortened. Therefore, the earlier hydrogen is involved in the ignition, the faster the combustion speed.

Effect of momentum flow ratio on entrainment of a confined coaxial jet in a co-flow

Iron ore pellet production processes produce large amounts of CO2 emissions when burning fossil fuels. One example is the grate-kiln process, where normally a coal flame is used to indurate pellets. To mitigate the emissions, coal used in rotary kilns can be replaced with for example hydrogen. However, the fuel is mixed with secondary process air, and replacing a solid fuel with a gaseous one changes the mixing characteristics. This demands different means of injecting the fuel. A coaxial jet can be used to control the mixing of fuel and secondary air, as well as the flow field. The aim is to control the mixing of hydrogen and secondary air to achieve a hydrogen flame that is similar to the reference coal flame. This study numerically investigates different coaxial jet configurations. Steady-state simulations of a simplified model of the real kiln are performed using a Reynolds Stress turbulence model. Results show that decreasing the momentum flow ratio between the outer and inner jet, M jet , to a certain value delays the spread of the hydrogen jet and thus gives a longer jet. Further decreasing this ratio gives an even longer jet, but has the side effect of producing recirculation of hydrogen.

The effect of methane addition on reacting hydrogen jets in crossflow

The combustion characteristics in a jet in crossflow configuration are numerically investigated using Large Eddy Simulation (LES) with subgrid scale modelling for partially premixed combustion. The time-averaged statistics are compared with the experimental measurements. Both the temperature and velocity comparisons show good agreement with measurements. The distribution of reaction regions of nitrogen-diluted hydrogen fuel jet is then examined in both physical and mixture fraction space. The results demonstrate that the fuel consumption in potential core, near-field and far-field regions occurs at various mixture fraction ranges. In the potential core region, reactions predominantly occur between the lean and stoichiometric mixture fraction range. This range broadens to include fuel-rich conditions in the near-field region and narrows again to fuel-lean combustion in the far-field region. With these changes in the mixture fraction range, the fractional contribution from different combustion modes also changes. A closer study of these changes reveals that the fractional contribution from the non-premixed mode is highest at the end of the potential core region. The dependency of these combustion modes on the fuel composition is studied by increasing the volume fraction of methane in the jet. This resulted in altered chemical kinetics and thereby increased the fractional contribution of the non-premixed mode, particularly in the potential core region.

Experimental investigation on the development characteristics of high-pressure hydrogen jet flame under different ignition conditions

With the rapid development and application of hydrogen in the chemical and energy industry, the safety of hydrogen industrial facilities has been widely concerned. In this study, the safety of hydrogen accidently released from a high-pressure tube storage system (tube diameter:10 mm, storage tank volume:4 L) was explored experimentally. The combustion behavior of the transient hydrogen jet and explosion overpressure under self-ignition and electric spark induction were investigated. Besides, the explosion overpressure and jet flame evolution laws of the hydrogen cloud induced by the release of unsteady turbulent hydrogen jets into the open environment were analyzed. The results revealed that the peak value of hydrogen self-ignition explosion overpressure was higher than that of electric spark ignition overpressure. Compared with spark ignition, hydrogen self-ignition flame structures can be maintained for longer time. However, spark ignition at low release pressures was more likely to cause hydrogen ignition and explosion compared to self-ignition. Finally, the combustion behavior and potential hazards of the ignited free transient hydrogen jet under different ignition modes were analyzed. This study can provide a reference for the prevention and control of hydrogen explosion accidents in practice.