Preliminary Safety Assessment of a Liquid Hydrogen Storage System for Commercial Aviation

The development of liquid hydrogen storage systems is a key aspect for the enabling clean air transportation. However, safety analysis research for such systems is still limited. This paper presents the outcomes of a preliminary safety assessment applied to this new type of storage system, accounting for the hazards of hydrogen. The focus is on the implemented safety assessment methodology, which used to analyse the most critical features of the storage system. Based on the safety assessment, a set of safety recommendations concerning different subsystems of the liquid hydrogen storage system is proposed, which have been further reviewed by domain experts, identifying necessary mitigation actions. The presented approach has been proved to be suitable for identifying essential liquid hydrogen hazards and for providing systematic design recommendations for different subsystem areas.