Numerical simulation of liquid hydrogen evaporation in the pressurized tank during venting

CFD modelling of liquified hydrogen boiling and evaporation during the pressurised tank venting is presented. The model is based on the volume-of-fluid method for tracking liquid and gas phases, and Lee’s model for phase change. The simulation results are compared against the liquid hydrogen evaporation experiment performed by Tani et al. (2021) in a large-scale pressurised storage tank, using experimental pressure dynamics and temperatures measured in gas and liquid phases. The study focuses on tank pressure decrease and recovery phenomena during the first 15 s of the venting process. The model sensitivity have been studied applying different Lee’s model evaporisation-condensation coefficients. The CFD model provided reasonable agreement with the observed pressure and gas phase temperature dynamics during the liquid hydrogen storage depressurisation, using Lee’s model coefficient r=0.05 s-1. Experimentalists’ hypothesis about particularly intensive boiling in the proximity of thermocouples was supported by close agreement between simulated and experimental saturation temperatures obtained from pressure dynamics.