3D Risk Management for Hydrogen Installations (HY3DRM)

This paper introduces the 3D Risk Management (3DRM) concept for hydrogen installations (Hy3DRM). The 3DRM framework entails an integrated solution for risk management that combines a detailed site- specific 3D geometry model for a system, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool for simulating accident scenarios involving dispersion, fire and explosions, and a methodology for frequency analysis and quantitative risk assessment (QRA). In order to reduce calculation time, and to cover escalating accident scenarios such as structural collapse and projectiles, the CFD-based consequence analysis can be complemented with reduced order models or finite element analysis (FEA). The paper outlines the background for 3DRM and presents a proof-of-concept risk assessment for a hypothetical hydrogen filling station. This first prototype focuses on dispersion, fire and explosion scenarios resulting from loss of containment of gaseous hydrogen. The approach adopted here combines consequence assessments obtained with the CFD tool FLACS-Hydrogen from Gexcon, and event frequencies estimated with the Hydrogen Risk Assessment Models (HyRAM) tool from Sandia, to generate 3D risk contours for explosion pressure and radiation loads. For a given population density and set of harm criteria it is straightforward to extend the analysis to include personnel risk, as well as risk-based design such as detector optimization. The discussion outlines main challenges and inherent limitations of the 3DRM concept, as well as possibilities and prospects for future development.