Quantified risk assessment on life and property loss from road collision vehicle fires with hydrogen-fueled tank

ABSTRACT

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles pose hazards different from conventional vehicles. This paper performs a risk assessment on road collision vehicle fires with hydrogen-fueled tank of 70 MPa. The high voltage battery fire caused by road collision can lead to onboard hydrogen release or explosion. Events progressions are analyzed and typical hydrogen consequences are evaluated quantitatively, including hydrogen jet fires and tank catastrophic rupture. Perimeters around the accident scene are proposed for the safety of general public and first responders, respectively. Risks of fatalities, injuries, and damages are all quantified in financial terms to make it possible to combine and compare.

KEYWORDS:

• Hydrogen vehicle collision
• risk assessment
• jet fire under vehicle
• tank catastrophic rupture
• financial loss

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by MOE (Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China) Foundation for Humanities and Social Science under Grant No. [17YJCZH099], and Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. [LY18G030024], and Science and Technology Project of Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China [2018-R2-028].