A Creo Dynamics project has been allocated 2.5 million core hours for a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study of high-pressure hydrogen (H2) after the PRACE DECI17 call. The overall aim of the project is to derive a best practice recommendation for transient CFD simulations of H2 high pressurized tanks. State-of-the-art commercial and open-source CFD software will be used within the project.

Hydrogen (H2) as an energy carrier has gained significant interest in recent year. Perceived as a clean fuel, it makes it an attractive fuel option for transportation and electricity generation applications. A safe and efficient handling and storage of hydrogen is one key enabler for its extensive use as an energy carrier in the future.

High-pressure storage (70MPa) and short refueling times (a few minutes) are required to make H2 a viable option against current conventional fuels, which, however, can cause unacceptable high gas temperatures. For safety reasons, there has been established an international ISO standard stipulating a maximum allowed gas temperature of +85 C during tank filling.

Efficient CFD methods for accurate and detailed predictions of filling (and emptying) of H2 high-pressure vessels are essential for a deeper understanding of the complex thermodynamics involved. Inlet temperature (pre-cooling of gas), filling rate, and inlet nozzle design are a few key parameters that may strongly influence the temperature level and distribution within the tank.

Recent CFD simulations have shown fairly good agreement with physical tests, however, also clearly pinpointed the need for further CFD methods refinements to make predictions more accurate and robust. Lower computational cost is also sought to make these CFD methods truly attractive as design tools.

The project aims to investigate CFD prediction sensitivity to numerical settings related to spatial and temporal discretization, grid resolution, physics modeling (turbulence, real-gas). Furthermore, DOE studies related to nozzle design and orientation as well as variations in inflow conditions will be undertaken to build sufficient knowledge.

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