Simulation analysis of protective wall against hydrogen combustion from liquified hydrogen storage tank on the offshore launching platform

Offshore rocket launching platforms will gradually become the mainstream rocket launching platform in the future due to its low geographical restrictions. A study is carried out to simulate the hydrogen combustion impact on the platform and the preventive effect of the protective wall after a hydrogen leakage accident. The study firstly adopts an approach to evaluate the leakage rates for the CFD simulation code FLACS based on local hydrogen concentrations at certain dilution distances. The approach consists of two models, and one is to predict hydrogen dilution distance reaching 4% hydrogen concentration at certain storage pressure and temperature, and the other is to evaluate modified hydrogen concentration at the same dilution distance under different storage pressure and temperature comparing to the former model. The hydrogen combustion following the leakage is studied based on various orifice sizes. The results include hydrogen concentration, pressure and pressure impulse, flame temperature and temperature on structure surface, and show that the current wall design can effectively protect the rocket from the impact of the combustion. (c) 2022 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.