The boiling phase
change is a fundamental and inescapable physical process in every aspect of
liquid hydrogen storage, transportation, and vaporization applications.
Accurate prediction of boiling characteristics is crucial for the design,
verification, operation, and diagnostics of related industrial equipment and
processes. However, precise numerical simulation of boiling phenomena,
especially including the initiation of nucleation, is difficult using
conventional multiphase flow models such as the Volume of Fluid (VOF) and level
set. These approaches often relay on empirical correlations, which typically
deviate from physical basis for different specific scenarios. In addition,
different from other cryogenic fluids, liquid hydrogen exhibits an even more
complex phase change mechanism due to its unique physical properties, such as
extremely low density, low viscosity and high wettability. In this work, a
numerical model based on the mesoscopic lattice Boltzmann (LB) method is
developed to simulate the boiling process of hydrogen. A mapping mechanism
between lattice and physical units is established based on the principle of corresponding
states. The high-accuracy fundamental equation of state for hydrogen is
integrated into the LB method, which significantly improves the thermophysical
property data accuracy that reflects the non-ideal fluid’s behavior. A film
evaporation numerical experiment is used to validate the proposed model. A
boiling simulation of liquid hydrogen on a microheater is performed, which
successfully renders the nucleation, growth, and detachment of hydrogen
bubbles. The findings provide insights into the nucleation mechanism of liquid
hydrogen at the mesoscopic level.
ZHENG Zhaoqi1, ZHAO Yiqi1, HUANG Yonghua1, 2
. Numerical Simulation
of Liquid Hydrogen Pool Boiling Based on the Lattice Boltzmann Method[J]. Journal of Shanghai Jiaotong University, 0
: 1
.
DOI: 10.16183/j.cnki.jsjtu.2026.002