Thermal-structural Coupled Analysis of Liquid Hydrogen Storage Tank with Different Numbers of Supports
The government declared ‘2050 carbon neutrality’ as a national vision in October 2020 and subsequently pursued the establishment of a ‘2050 carbon neutrality scenario’ as a follow-up response. Hydrogen is considered as one of the most promising future energy carriers due to its noteworthy advantages of renewable, environmentally friendly and high calorific value. Liquid hydrogen is thus more advantageous for large-scale storage and transportation. However, due to the large difference between the liquid hydrogen temperature and the environment temperature, an inevitable heat leak into the storage tanks of liquid hydrogen occurs, causing boil-off losses and vent of hydrogen gas. Researches on insulation materials for liquid hydrogen are actively being conducted, but research on support design for minimal heat transfer and enhanced rigidity remains insufficient. In this study, to design support structures for liquid hydrogen storage tanks, a thermal-structural coupled analysis technique was developed using Ansys Workbench. Analytical models were created based on the number and arrangement of supports to propose structurally safe support designs.