Safety Research (SIF)
The establishment of a nationwide hydrogen infrastructure in conjunction with the introduction of hydrogen technologies into widespread use, as envisaged by the German government's National Hydrogen Strategy, places special demands on hydrogen safety in order to avoid material damage and, in particular, acceptance problems among the general public. In addition to pre-normative research, which serves to expand and supplement existing regulations and standards, the focus here is on R&D work to develop model-based methods to derive application-specific safety concepts and evaluate the effectiveness of safety measures.
The Safety Research department is concerned with R&D for the safe use of hydrogen technologies. We investigate the operating behavior of safety equipment and develop numerical models and implement simulations for analyses that are used to evaluate safety concepts.
In addition to many years of experience in hydrogen safety research, both in the field of reactor safety and in the application of hydrogen as an energy carrier, the SIF department has been active as a founding member in the International Association for Hydrogen Safety (HySafe) for many years and has provided an expert in the European Hydrogen Safety Panel (EHSP) of the EU's Clean Hydrogen Partnership for 3 years.
Thermo-Fluid Dynamics and System Analysis
The research group 'Thermo-Fluid Dynamics and System Analysis' has been developing models for the simulation of hydrogen distribution in the course of severe accidents in nuclear power plants (e.g. Fukushima) for 15 years and successfully transfers this experience to other hydrogen applications. For the last five years, this expertise has been consolidated and brought into application with the development of the customized simulation package 'containmentFOAM' based on the source-open CFD software OpenFOAM. Major challenge for the model application to new hydrogen technologies is the description of the dynamic operating characteristics of all involved systems and components, for which a dedicated experimental characterization is required.
Hydrogen and Aerosol Behavior
The "Hydrogen and Aerosol Behavior" team investigates phenomena related to severe accidents in nuclear power plants that occur inside the containment and can endanger the integrity of the last barrier. Research topics include fluid dynamics within the containment, hydrogen mitigation measures, aerosol behavior and wall condensation. Unique test facilities up to technical scale are the basis for expertise that is in demand internationally through projects with scientific and industrial partners. In addition to gaining fundamental insights into the relevant phenomena, the experiments serve to develop, refine and validate numerical tools for evaluating severe accident scenarios and the efficiency of safety measures. The expertise in the field of hydrogen safety is also increasingly being used in the context of non-nuclear hydrogen technologies.
Heads of department
Dr. Ernst-Arndt Reinecke
