Thermal energy propagation characteristics and hazard effects of hydrogen cloud explosion

Hydrogen has advantages such as high energy density and zero carbon emissions, but it poses a risk of generating explosion fireballs in the air. The gas explosion process not only involves thermal radiation from the fireball but also heat conduction and convection caused by the diffusion of high-temperature products. In this work, the thermal parameters of hydrogen cloud explosion with different equivalence ratios and gas cloud radius in an unconfined space were investigated. The results show that the flame temperature-distance curve of a hydrogen explosion exhibited a ’Z’ type. The maximum distance of flame propagation is positively correlated with the peak thermal radiation flux and cloud radius and increases first and then remains steady with the equivalence ratio. When only considering thermal convection, the minimum injury distance of flame temperature is achieved, and the thermal radiation effect can promote the flame propagation speed. Under the q-t criterion, the effective thermal radiation radius of first-level damage at a gas cloud size of 1 m was 6.11 m at φ = 1.2, which was 1.89 times that of φ = 0.6. Compared with the thermal dose criterion, the thermal flux-time criterion results in a larger thermal injury radius. The propulsion effect of hydrogen explosion products can cause the hydrogen cloud in the premixed zone to diffuse outward. The critical distance of hydrogen diffusion within the lower explosion limit was also analyzed. This study provides significant guiding implications for preventing hazards in people and buildings.