Validation of a reduced-order jet model for subsonic and underexpanded hydrogen jets

Much effort has been made to model hydrogen releases from leaks during potential failures of hydrogen storage systems. A reduced-order jet model can be used to quickly characterize these flows, with low computational cost. Notional nozzle models are often used to avoid modeling the complex shock structures produced by the underexpanded jets by determining an “effective” source to produce the observed downstream trends. In this work, the mean hydrogen concentration fields were measured in a series of subsonic and underexpanded jets using a planar laser Rayleigh scattering system. The experimental data was compared to a reduced order jet model for subsonic flows and a notional nozzle model coupled to the jet model for underexpanded jets. The values of some key model parameters were determined by comparisons with the experimental data. The coupled model was also validated against hydrogen concentrations measurements for 100 and 200 bar hydrogen jets with the predictions agreeing well with data in the literature.