earticle

한국어

This study simulated the thermal characteristics of a liquefied hydrogen (LH) tank with varying multi-layer insulation (MLI) thickness and surrounding conditions. A transient heat conduction simulation was conducted using ANSYS Fluent software to predict the temperature distribution of the LH tank. The LH tank is composed of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), MLI, and an Air layer for thermal insulation. A large MLI thickness delayed temperature changes inside the MLI due to its low thermal diffusivity. And then, the temperature rapidly increased near the outer wall, resulting in thermal non-uniformity. Therefore, when designing a LH tank with MLI materials, it would be necessary to optimize the design (i.e., MLI thickness) by considering structural stability issues caused by thermal non-uniformity. In addition, as the surrounding temperature increased and the convective heat transfer coefficient became higher, the enhanced heat transfer led to a higher temperature gradient within the LH tank, bringing the outer wall temperature of the LH tank closer to the environmental conditions. The results of this study will significantly contribute to establishing a comprehensive thermal database for predicting the thermal-structural behaviors, considering the thermal stress induced by the thermal distribution of LH tanks, which depends on the installation conditions and environment.