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Computational design of vapor-cooled shield structure for liquid hydrogen storage tank

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Abstract

From the perspective of energy development, the low storage temperature of liquid hydrogen leads to intrusion heat flux and unavoidable evaporation losses during liquid hydrogen storage, limiting the development of hydrogen energy. Vapor-cooled shield (VCS) has been regarded as an outstanding thermal insulation solution for liquefied hydrogen storage. It uses the low-temperature hydrogen vapor evaporating from the tank to cool the insulation layer and reduce the storage tank’s intrusion heat flux. The present study conducts a three-dimensional computational design of the VCS structure for a liquid hydrogen storage tank and analyzes the influence of the design variables such as VCS tube diameter, the number of tubes, and effective thermal conductivity upon thermal insulation performance. Analysis results showed that compared to the model without VCS, as the VCS tube diameter and tube number increase, the heat transfer area increases, and the reduction in intrusive heat flow improves from a minimum of 31.64 % to a maximum of 66.55 %. In addition, the insulation layer’s thermal insulation performance is improved with the decrease of the multi-layer insulation thermal conductivity; however, the trend between the intrusion heat flux and the tube diameter and tube number remains unaffected.

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Abbreviations

E :

Total energy, J

k eff :

Thermal conductivity, W/m·K

k MLI :

MLI’s equivalent thermal conductivity, W/m·K

ρ :

Fluid pressure, Pa

q′:

Intrusion heat flux of the storage tank, W/m2

S :

VCS shield area, m2

T cold :

Cold boundary surface temperature, K

T shield :

VCS shield average temperature, K

T local :

VCS local shield temperature, K

u :

Velocity, m/s

ρ :

Fluid density, kg/m3

δ :

VCS layer distance to cold boundary surface, m

τ :

Stress tensor

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering a grant from Endowment Project of “Development of Core Technology for Offshore Green Hydrogen to Realize a Carbon-Neutral Society” funded by Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (1525013024, PES4804).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 06974, Korea

    Xian You Zhu & Seong Hyuk Lee

  2. Offshore Industries R&BD Center, Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering, Gyeongsangnam-do, 53201, Korea

    Jung Hee Lee

  3. Eco-friendly Ocean Development Research Division, Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering, Daejeon, 34103, Korea

    Kyong-Hwan Kim

Authors
  1. Xian You Zhu
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  2. Jung Hee Lee
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  4. Seong Hyuk Lee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Seong Hyuk Lee.

Additional information

Xian You Zhu received his B.S. degree from Qingdao University of Science and Technology. He is currently M.S. candidate in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Chung-Ang University. His research interests are heat transfer and computational fluid dynamics.

Jung Hee Lee is currently a Principal Researcher at the Offshore Industries R&BD Center, KRISO, Geoje-si, Korea. He received a Ph.D. from Chung-Ang University in Korea. His main research field is the numerical simulation of heat transfer, multi-physics, multi-layer insulation system analysis, and digital twin physical model development.

Kyong-Hwan Kim is currently a Principal Researcher in the Eco-friendly Ocean Development Research Division, KRISO, Daejeon, Korea. He received a Ph.D. from Seoul National University in Korea. His main research field is the numerical simulation of nonlinear motion and hydroelasticity analysis, nonlinear offshore structure design, and offshore green hydrogen production platform design.

Seong Hyuk Lee received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in the Mechanical Engineering Department from Chung-Ang University in Korea. Now, he is a Professor of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Chung-Ang University. He has various research fields in heat and mass transfer: interfacial phenomena, evaporation/con-densation heat transfer, SPR visualization, and computational physics.

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Zhu, X.Y., Lee, J.H., Kim, KH. et al. Computational design of vapor-cooled shield structure for liquid hydrogen storage tank. J Mech Sci Technol 38, 1575–1583 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-024-0248-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-024-0248-0

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