A Study on Mitigating Accidents for Liquid Hydrogen

This paper is an attempt to give a concise overview of the state-of-the-art in the recent liquid hydrogen safety researches with unwanted event progress. The vessel of liquified hydrogen may fail and liquid hydrogen spilled. The hydrogen will immediately start to evaporate above a pool and make a hydrogen cloud. The cloud will disperse and can produce a vapor cloud explosion. The vessel containing the liquid hydrogen may not be able to cope with the boil-off due to heat influx, especially in case of a fire, and a BLEVE may occur. In equipment where it exists as compressed gas, a leak generates a jet of gas that can self-ignite immediately or after a short delay and produce a jet flame, or in case it ignites at a source a certain distance from the leak (delayed ignition), a flash fire occurs in the open and with confinement a deflagration or even detonation may develop. The up-to-date knowledge in these events, recent progress and future research are discussed in brief. . . . BLEVE . . .