CFD modeling and analysis of the influence factors of liquid hydrogen spills in open environment

A three-dimensional model has been built for the simulation of liquid hydrogen (LH2) spill on the ground, where the source of LH2 was modeled as a jet and placed near the ground. The model was firstly validated by the experimental results from the large-scale test of LH2 spill carried out by NASA at New Mexico in 1981, and then used to analyze the vaporization time of LH2 and the spreading range of gaseous hydrogen. The numerical calculation and analysis was carried out in a domain of 200 m × 60 m × 80 m. The variation of hydrogen concentration distribution at different time nodes and different environmental conditions are presented. The influences of wind velocity, wind temperature and ground temperature on the concentration distribution have also been analyzed.