Numerical Study on Protective Measures for a Skid-Mounted Hydrogen Refueling Station

Hydrogen refueling stations are one of the key infrastructure components for the hydrogen-fueled economy. Skid-mounted hydrogen refueling stations (SHRSs) can be more easily commercialized due to their smaller footprints and lower costs compared to stationary hydrogen refueling stations. The present work modeled hydrogen explosions in a skid-mounted hydrogen refueling station to predict the overpressures for hydrogen-air mixtures and investigate the protective effects for different explosion vent layouts and protective wall distances. The results show that the explosive vents with the same vent area have similar overpressure reduction effects. The layout of the explosion vent affects the flame shape. Explosion venting can effectively reduce the inside maximum overpressure by 61.8%. The protective walls can reduce the overpressures, but the protective walls should not be too close to the SHRS because high overpressures are generated inside the walls due to the confined shock waves. The protective wall with a distance of 6 m can effectively protect the surrounding people and avoid the secondary overpressure damage to the container.