Turbulent Combustion Laboratory
The Turbulent Combustion Laboratory (TCL) provides a well-controlled, lab-scale environment for testing hydrogen release characteristics. Outfitted with several lasers, the TCL is uniquely suited to make high-fidelity, non-intrusive measurements of hydrogen release and combustion phenomena. The optical diagnostics employed in this laboratory include line-imaged Raman scattering, Raleigh Scattering, laser-induced fluorescence, particle imaging velocimetry, and Schlieren flow visualization.
Staff at Sandia team with researchers from SRI International to perform large-scale releases at the Corral Hollow testing facility in Tracey, CA. Diagnostics such as IR and visible cameras, thermocouples, thermopiles, and pressure gauges are used in this setting. These large-scale releases are not as well-controlled as the lab scale experiments, since wind and other natural elements can affect the release. Nonetheless, large-scale releases allow models to be evaluated in a realistic environment.
Hydrogen Safety, Codes and Standards
One objective of the hydrogen behavior program is to develop the technical data and scientific understanding necessary to defensibly revise safety codes and standards. This includes the behaviors of a hydrogen release, dispersion, accumulation, ignition, flame radiation, and overpressure. The team develops models to describe these phenomena and generates high-fidelity data that can be used to validate and verify these models. This work provides the physics necessary to inform quantitative risk assessment (QRA) and the HyRAM tool being developed in DOE’s Safety, Codes and Standards Program.