Success Story: Creo Dynamics Successful Application PRACE DECI17 

Organisations & Codes Involved:

Creo Dynamics strives to create new value by innovations in acoustics, fluid dynamics and smart structures with a focus on cross-disciplinary problems. The goal is to create IPR that can be brought to demonstrator or proof-of-concept level. Creo Dynamics collaborates with industrial partners to commercialize said innovations.

Technical/scientific Challenge:

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study of high-pressure hydrogen (H2). The overall aim of the project is to derive a best practice recommendation for transient CFD simulations of H2 high pressurized tanks. State-of-the-art commercial and open-source CFD software will be used within the project.

Hydrogen (H2) as an energy carrier has gained significant interest in recent year. Perceived as a clean fuel, it makes it an attractive fuel option for transportation and electricity generation applications. A safe and efficient handling and storage of hydrogen is one key enabler for its extensive use as an energy carrier in the future.

High-pressure storage (70MPa) and short refueling times (a few minutes) are required to make H2 a viable option against current conventional fuels, which, however, can cause unacceptable high gas temperatures. For safety reasons, there has been established an international ISO standard stipulating a maximum allowed gas temperature of +85 C during tank filling.

Business Impact:

By participating in research projects, Creo Dynamics develops and validates innovative concepts. In turn, HPC access generates new valuable solutions for their clients and gives them unique cutting-edge competence.

Creo Dynamics innovates close together with our clients, creating long-term value through disruptive products and processes. We provide new solutions to improve the world.

Solution:

Efficient CFD methods for accurate and detailed predictions of filling (and emptying) of H2 high-pressure vessels are essential for a deeper understanding of the complex thermodynamics involved. Inlet temperature (pre-cooling of gas), filling rate, and inlet nozzle design are a few key parameters that may strongly influence the temperature level and distribution within the tank.

Recent CFD simulations have shown fairly good agreement with physical tests, however, also clearly pinpointed the need for further CFD methods refinements to make predictions more accurate and robust. Lower computational cost is also sought to make these CFD methods truly attractive as design tools.

The project aims to investigate CFD prediction sensitivity to numerical settings related to spatial and temporal discretization, grid resolution, physics modeling (turbulence, real-gas). Furthermore, DOE studies related to nozzle design and orientation as well as variations in inflow conditions will be undertaken to build sufficient knowledge.

SUCCESS STORY # HIGHLIGHTS:

• Keywords: High-Performance Computing, HPC, Supercomputing, Engineering, Software Optimisation, EuroCC
• Industry sector: IT/HPC systems, services & software providers, manufacturing & engineering, natural science
• Technology: HPC, HPDA, AI

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