Time: 14:00 - 16:00, September 1 2023
Location: Room 102, Teaching Building #4, Yuquan Campus
Speaker: Professor Jennifer X. Wen Fire and Explosion Modelling Group, University of Surrey, UK https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/jennifer-x-wen
Topic: Development and validation of CFD based predictive tools for hydrogen fire and explosion hazards
Abstract:
The presentation will provide an overview of the systematic approach my team has followed since 2008 to develop, validate and apply the in-house modified versions of OpenFOAM for hydrogen safety. It will cover the following topics:
- Spontaneous ignition in pressurised hydrogen releases
- Ignited releases of hydrogen jets at atmospheric and cryogenic conditions
- Hydrogen explosions (including venting to mitigate explosions overpressures)
- DDT in hydrogen-air mixtures with and without concentration gradients
- Vapour cloud explosions from instantaneous large-scale releases of liquid hydrogen
About Professor Wen
Jennifer Wen joined the School of Mechanical Engineering Sciences, University of Surrey as Professor in Energy Resilience in January 2023. She established and currently leads the Fire and Explosion Modelling Group (FMEG) at Surrey. She is also the Lead for the "Energy and Environment Programme" at the pan-university Institute for Sustainability. Prior to Surrey, Jennifer held positions at Computational Dynamics Limited (founding vendor of STAR-CCM), British Gas plc, South Bank University, Kingston University London, and University of Warwick. She is a Charted Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
Jennifer’s research has been applied to a wide range of safety-critical scenarios. She developed physics-based models to simulate accidental releases of flammable gases/liquid, the resulting fire, and explosions within the frame of open-source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code OpenFOAM®; and provided some modified versions to industrial sponsors and other collaborators. Working with industry and HSE, Jennifer studied critical safety issues underpinning UK's decarbonisation activities, covering batteries, hydrogen, and transport of CO2 for CCS. Her team’s new engineering tool for explosion vent panel design was included in European Standard EN14994. Some of the impact of Jennifer’s research beyond the academic sphere is well documented in the Impact Case Study “Impact of fire and explosion research on industrial practices and government policy” submitted by her former institution, University of Warwick in the UK’s latest Research Excellence Framework (REF2021), covering the period from 2013 to 2021.
Jennifer is currently an Associate Editor for the Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, Vice-Chairman of the International Association for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS) and Chair of IAFSS “Research” sub-committee. She also serves as a member and Task Force Leader of the European Safety Panel on Hydrogen Safety (EHSP) established by the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (currently renamed as Clean Hydrogen Partnership) of the European Commission.
