These slides were presented at the NAFEMS World Congress 2025, held in Salzburg, Austria from May 19–22, 2025.

Abstract

The unique properties and challenges associated with hydrogen require emphasizing safety considerations in design and operation. The authors will present several simulation case studies showing both intermediate and advanced capabilities for derisking the complex hydrogen supply chain using a cloud-native simulation platform. These features enable engineers to efficiently test and refine designs, ensuring reliability and compliance with industry standards. The Hydrogen industry is trying hard to scale H2 production, optimize transport and utilization as an alternative to fossil fuels. Many are critical of H2 being a dominant energy vector in a decarbonized economy given the cost and safety considerations, however. Many pilot projects are focused on developing renewable generated H2, improving the process efficiency for example in electrolyzers and desalination and developing alternate technologies such as biohydrogen fermentation. Likewise, making H2 safe and cost effective at the point of use remains a challenge and requires efforts to reduce energy costs of cooling, liquefaction & gasification, improve storage efficiency & material durability and research new storage technologies. In this study, the main types of engineering simulation including computational fluid dynamics (CFD), finite element analysis (FEA), thermal management techniques, and electromagnetic analysis are applied to hydrogen systems. These systems include hydrogen tank filling, transport, pressurized vessel testing, H2 fuel cell optimization, pumping and valve components and sealing/gaskets. Furthermore, the analyses are amplified with specific solvers and techniques that leverage standard H2 REFPROP properties and incorporate advanced models for heat transfer and gas mixing.l . The workflow is augmented using parametric simulations in the cloud for generating data to train a machine learning model for rapid AI-powered simulations at the early design stages. The overall remit of this paper is to demonstrate the capabilities of engineering simulation in the proper design and deployment of hydrogen supply chain equipment and components. The authors have created templated workflows specific to Hydrogen including; hydrogen material properties; thermal and structural properties of common components such as electrolysers, compressors, fuel cells; templates for the transient refueling of hydrogen storage tanks and guidance on optimizing critical components for hydrogen production, storage, and transport. The presentation will include three case studies: Filling of an onboard Hydrogen tank looking at pressure dynamics, threshold mean line temperature, heat conductivity of tank lining and general flow patterns, temperature management and fine tuning fill dynamics (Fill time and energy efficiency). Sealing and gaskets for leakage detection, seal performance (material reliability) and minimizing material and manufacturing costs. Thermal management of fuel cells analyzing temperature distribution to optimize cooling, coolant flow dynamics to improve heat transfer and fuel cell efficiency.