Design of a multilayer flexhose for a liquid hydrogen application with the aid of CFD analysis to reduce pressure drop in the flex hose

For more sustainable transportation, the trend is going towards the usage of liquid hydrogen as a fuel especially in heavy-duty vehicles. One of the most important aspects is the storage and transfer of liquid hydrogen in between the fuel-cell tanks in high pressure and low temperature cryogenic applications. Pressure drops along the long pipe is another consideration in this aspect. Multilayer flex hoses are essential components in such applications, providing flexibility and durability. This thesis includes the modeling, analysis, and validation of liquid hydrogen carrying multi-layer insulated flexible pipe connecting fuel tanks in heavy-duty trucks to evaluate its thermal behavior under the operating conditions. The model is built using customer requirements, related industry standards, and meshed according to FEA guidelines. The analysis part consists of three parts: the analysis of fluid distribution due to high pressure and very low temperature application of liquid hydrogen with single layer flex hose and multi-layer insulated flex hose, pressure drop due to the flow and the mathematical analysis of calculating friction factor according to pressure drop results obtained from CFD analysis. Results of the CFD analysis reveal insights into the temperature and pressure distribution along the flex hose numerically and pressure drop calculations for numerically and friction factor calculations analytically. The thesis concludes by highlighting the benefits of using CFD analysis in the design of multi-layer flex hoses for liquid hydrogen applications, providing recommendations for further research and development in this field.