Modelling liquid hydrogen storage tanks during fire engulfment

Hydrogen represents a strategic option for decarbonising energy systems, and its large-scale deployment relies on liquid hydrogen (LH2) due to the higher density offered for storage and transport. However, safety challenges affect the technology, compromising its acceptability and spread. Among these, the fire exposure of liquid hydrogen storage tanks appears the most critical. This thesis aims to develop an engineering model able to predict the behaviour of a double-walled LH2 storage tank during fire engulfment. Starting from an existing and already validated approach, several upgrades are introduced to solve the model limitations and extend its applicability. The validation of the newly proposed approach against a new set of experimental data highlights a significantly higher accuracy in the result with respect to the original approach. The proposed methodology provides a practical and computationally efficient tool for safety-oriented assessment of liquid hydrogen tanks under fire exposure, supporting the analysis of pressurization phenomena, tank fire resistance and identification of critical time windows for emergency response.