Nomograms for Assessment of Hazard Distances From a Blast Wave After High-Pressure Hydrogen Cylinder Rupture in a Fire

The paper presents nomograms as engineering tools for assessment of hazard distances from a blast wave after rupture of stand-alone or onboard hydrogen cylinder in a fire. The nomograms were built basing on the validated model, which includes the contribution of combustion of hydrogen released after a tank rupture to the blast wave strength. Two categories of the nomograms were developed. The first category is simplified and designed for the use by first responders, working on the scene of accident. These nomograms are constrained by fixed harm to people and damage to buildings. The other category of nomograms is for the use by hydrogen safety engineers. These nomograms give more flexibility to users, allowing to apply various harm/damage criteria accepted in different national and international standards. It was emphasised, that harm/damage criteria differ from one country to another. This naturally gives the different hazard distances. The need for international efforts to unify the harm/damage criteria for assessment of hazard distances from blast waves is underlined.