SafE and reliabLE COmbustion Technologies powered by Hydrogen

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Hydrogen is uniquely placed to achieve both energy security and net-zero greenhouse emission goals provided it can be produced by low-carbon resources and systems powered by hydrogen can be operated safely and reliably. Hydrogen can be burned to produce heat or power. It can also be used in fuel cells to produce electricity. Due to its high reactivity with oxygen, it often results in violent dynamics that raises challenges to guarantee the integrity and reliability of the systems powered by hydrogen but also their safety. The objective of SELECT-H is threefold: (1) develop fundamental knowledge on combustion science associated with the use of hydrogen in real systems, (2) develop and validate simulation tools to predict these flows and (3) develop solutions to favor the shift from technologies powered by hydrocarbon fuels to safe and reliable systems only powered by hydrogen. These objectives will be achieved in SELECT-H by combining detailed experiments, low order physics-based models and high-fidelity numerical simulations in two different sets of configurations with large societal impact. The first set considers technologies in which hydrogen must burn efficiently, including domestic boilers, cooking stoves and gas turbines for propulsion and power generation. They cover a wide range of operating conditions, fuel and oxidizer injection schemes, including laminar atmospheric cases and highly-turbulent flows at high pressure and elevated temperature where combustion dynamics can threaten the system integrity and reliability. The second set considers cases where hydrogen combustion must be avoided. Typically, hydrogen leaks from fuel cells or from high pressure storages will be considered to understand how hydrogen leaks may ignite and, if they do, how they will interact with walls. The fundamental knowledge gained in SELECT-H will allow the design of safe and reliable hydrogen-powered units.