Safety and Design Aspects for High-Pressure Hydrogen Storage Tanks: Importance of Design by Analysis

Hydrogen is a strategic energy vector for addressing climate change, pollution, and energy security. Despite its promise in global decarbonisation, storing hydrogen is more complex than conventional energy carriers. If gaseous hydrogen storage is concerned, it must be compressed to high pressures increasing its volumetric energy density. In this context, the ASME BPVC Section VIII Division 3 Code outlines rigorous standards for high-pressure hydrogen storage, focusing on material qualification, fabrication, nondestructive tests, and design by analysis procedures. This article proposes a parametric approach for the design of high-pressure hydrogen storage tanks, considering the requirements of ASME BPVC Section VIII Division 3 Code, evaluating static stress distribution, fatigue cycles, fracture analysis and buckling for the load cases imposed by the regulation for design, operating and pressure test conditions. After a formula-based assessment of the preliminary thickness, the design by analysis has been applied through the finite element method providing a comprehensive evaluation of stresses and structural behaviour under design, operational and test conditions. Finally, a detailed description of the stress intensity factor through API 579/ASME FFS together with the finite element method at the crack tip along with the simulation of cracks propagation, mandatory for hydrogen containing vessels, is presented.