Ignition of Hydrogen Suddenly Leaked from a High Pressure Tank

Abstract

[Abstract] When high pressure hydrogen jet is released to atmosphere, it may autoignites depending on the hydrogen jet and surrounding geometrical conditions. The present work will clarify the high pressure hydrogen jet auto-ignition phenomena after it spouting from a hole or a tube experimentally using a small shock tube and a numerical analysis. It is shown that high pressure hydrogen jet leaking from a small hole does not auto-ignite and that coming out from tube it auto-ignites. Some numerical calculations are also presented to explain the experimental evidences. The parameters for such auto-ignition depend on hydrogen pressure, tube diameter, and tube length. A discussion of the limit of these parameters is also presented.