Safety strategies and engineering solutions for hydrogen heavy-duty vehicles

Strategic political developments towards a low carbon economy enable practical implementation of zero-emission applications including hydrogen-fuelled heavy-duty vehicles (HDV) such as buses and trucks. The use of hydrogen in public transport implies stringent requirements of bus design. Not all knowledge gaps are closed to manufacture inherently safer HDV transport, including double-deck buses. Industry and regulators have particular concerns about two aspects of HDV design that are considered critical for their successful roll-out: - development of refuelling protocol for heavy-duty vehicles capable to provide refuelling time comparable with modern fossil-fuel vehicles and yet not jeopardising the safety of onboard compressed hydrogen storage system (CHSS), and - fire-resistance rating of current CHSS, which may lead to their rupture in a fire with catastrophic consequences, i.e. blast wave, fireball and projectiles. The project will critically review "old" and new hazards of HDV of different designs and sectors, i.e. buses and trucks. Existing prevention and mitigation safety strategies and engineering solutions, knowledge gaps and technological bottlenecks in the provision of safety of HDV will be identified and analysed. The expected research outcomes may be in the form of: - recommendations for the inherently safer design of HDV, - fuelling protocol for different CHSS; - optimised safety design of CHSS using TPRD; - safety design of CHSS based on self-venting TPRD-less containers. It is envisaged that the research will rely on the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to study and optimise the heat and mass transfer during refuelling, the performance of CHSS in realistic fires of different intensity, including smouldering and impinging jet fires. The successful candidate is expected to have a strong background in one of the following disciplines: mathematics, physics, chemistry, fluid dynamics, heat and mass transfer, combustion. Any previous experience of theoretical analysis and/or numerical studies is welcome. The research will be conducted at the HySAFER Centre. The candidate will focus on CFD modelling and numerical simulations, use relevant software (ANSYS Fluent, FieldView, etc.) and the state-of-the-art computational resources - multi-processor workstations available at HySAFER Centre and HPC facility available within EPSRC KELVIN-2 project. This research will be aligned to HySAFER's externally funded projects and reported at international conferences. Publication of results in peer-reviewed journals is expected.

The RI self-assessment of an individual's research projects will mean that the cohort have a high degree of understanding of the potential beneficial impact from their research on the economy, society and the environment. This then places the cohort as the best ambassadors for the CDT, hence most pathways to impact are through the students, facilitated by the CDT.

Industrial impact of this CDT is in working closely together with key industry players across the hydrogen sector, including through co-supervision, mentoring of doctoral students and industry involvement in CDT events. Our industrial stakeholders include those working on hydrogen production (ITM Power, Hydrogen Green Power, Pure Energy) and distribution (Northern Gas, Cadent), storage (Luxfer, Haydale, Far UK), safety (HSL, Shell, ITM Power), low carbon transport (Ulemco, Arcola Energy), heat and power (Bosch, Northern Gas).

Policy impact of the CDT research and other activities will occur through cohort interactions with local authorities (Nottingham City Council) and LEPs (LLEP, D2N2) through the CDT workshops and conference. A CDT in Parliament day will be facilitated by UKHFCA (who have experience in lobbying the government on behalf of their members) and enable the cohort to visit the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POST), BEIS and to meet with local MPs. Through understanding the importance of evidence gathering by Government Departments and the role this has in informing policy, the cohort will be encouraged to take the initiative in submitting evidence to any relevant requests for evidence from POST.

Public impact will be achieved through developing knowledge-supported interest of public in renewable energy in particular the role of hydrogen systems and infrastructure. Special attention will be paid to demonstration of safety solutions to prove that hydrogen is not more or less dangerous compared to other fuels when it is dealt with professionally and systems are engineered properly. The public, who are ultimate beneficiaries of hydrogen technologies, will be engaged through different communication channels and the CDT activities to be aware of our work. We will communicate important conclusions of the CDT research at regional, national, and international events as appropriate.

Socio-economic impact. There are significant socio-economic opportunities, including employment, for hydrogen technologies as the UK moves to low carbon transport, heat and power supply. For the UK to have the opportunity to take an international lead in hydrogen sector we need future innovation leaders. The CDT supported by partners we will create conditions for and exploit the opportunities to maximise socio-economic impact.

Students will be expected in years 3 and 4 to undertake a research visit to an industry partner and/or to undertake a knowledge transfer secondment. It is expected these visits (supported by the CDT) will be a significant benefit to the student's research project through access to industry expertise, exploring the potential impact of their research and will also be a valuable networking experience.