Numerical study on the effects of rupture disk opening manner on high-pressure hydrogen release and spontaneous ignition

Spontaneous ignition of released high-pressure hydrogen is one major safety hazard for rupture disk (RD) device used in hydrogen energy pressure equipment. This study numerically investigates the effects of two RD opening manners, tearing from the center and along the circumference, corresponding to C-scored RD and Cross-scored RD respectively, on high-pressure hydrogen release and spontaneous ignition, using the LES, RNG, and EDC models, kinetics mechanism considering pressure-dependent reaction. Results show that the direction of shock waves generated by C-scored RD is highly concentrated, which leads to higher temperature locally, promoting spontaneous ignition. However, the theoretical opening time of C-scored RD is also affected by opening manner, and is derived to be longer than that of Cross-scored RD, which is unfavorable for ignition. These two effects antagonize each other. As a result, the first spontaneous ignition of C-scored RD occurs much later than that of Cross-scored RD, and its flame is weaker, even a complete flame surface across the entire tube section has not been formed before leaving tube.