Boundary Layer Effects on the Critical Nozzle of Hydrogen Sonic Jet

When hydrogen flows through a small finite length constant exit area nozzle the viscous effects create a fluid throat which acts as a converging-diverging nozzle and lead to Mach number greater than one at the exit if the jet is under-expanded. This phenomenon influences the mass flow rate and the dispersion cloud size. In this study, the effect of the pipe boundary layer on the unsteady hydrogen sonic jet from a high pressure reservoir (up to 70 MPa) is studied using computational fluid dynamics with a large eddy simulation turbulence model. This viscous flow simulation is compared with a non- viscous simulation to demonstrate that the velocity is supersonic at the exit of a small exit nozzle and that the mass flow is reduced.