Digital image processing for the estimation of the thermal power entering a liquid hydrogen tank exposed to a fire

Hydrogen is expected to play a significant role in the energy transition. The use of liquid hydrogen (LH2) as a fuel in large-scale applications, such as maritime, aviation and road transport, is regarded as a promising strategy to enhance the decarbonization of the current economic system. However, drawbacks of various nature prevent the fast development of hydrogen applications, and safety is one of the main barriers. The knowledge of hydrogen safety-related aspects still has relevant gaps and filling this void is crucial to speed up the advent of the hydrogen economy. The application of already well-known technique of image processing can be applied in this sense to analyse the data collected from hydrogen experimental tests. Until now, the SH2IFT project has been one of the few experimental campaigns focusing on the safety of liquid hydrogen. During the project, the worst-case scenario involving LH2 tanks (i.e., fire engulfment of the storage tank in a fire) was reproduced. In this study, the recordings of the tests are analysed through a digital image processing technique (DIP) to extract information relative to the thermal power transferred from the fire to the tank. The study demonstrates the potential application of the DIP as a safety tool and points out the importance of the quality of the data in this type of analysis, suggesting precautions for the recordings of the tests in future experimental campaigns.