PUBLICATIONS AND VIDEOS

SUMMARY

In 2024, PFPNet commissioned a project to characterise the conditions experienced by objects engulfed in gaseous H2 jet fires. Across a series of experiments undertaken at BAM in Germany, measurements were taken of the heat fluxes and local gas velocities for a range of mass flow rates. The instrumented specimens included water-cooled total heat flux gauges and radiometers from two different manufacturers, and Prandtl tubes for the calculation of the jet velocity. Heat fluxes up to 700 kW/m² were recorded. A second phase of work sourced 5 different types of PFP system and subjected them to similar conditions for durations up to 30 minutes. The performance of the PFP systems was generally positive, although they offered some surprises. The learnings from this phase of work will inform a Joint Industry Project about to launch, which has the aim of extending the work through a mixture of CFD and validation testing, to develop a standard method of test for determining the resistance of PFP systems to gaseous H2 jet fires.

This presentation will give an overview of the experimental work undertaken to date, including the response of the PFP systems tested. It will draw preliminary conclusions on the ability of PFP systems to resist gaseous H2 jet fires and gives recommendations for future work.