A Computational Work of Critical Nozzle Flow for High-Pressure Hydrogen Gas Mass Flow Measurement

고압수소 유량계측용 임계노즐 유동의 수치해석적 연구

The method of mass flow rate measurement using a critical nozzle is well established in the flow satisfying ideal gas law. However, in the case of measuring high-pressure gas flow, the current method shows invalid discharge coefficient because the flow does not follow ideal gas law. Therefore an appropriate equation of state considering real gas effects should be applied into the method. The present computational study has been performed to give an understanding of the physics of a critical nozzle flow for high-pressure hydrogen gas and find a way for the exact mass flow prediction. The two-dimensional, axisymmetric, compressible Navier-Stokes equations are computed using a fully implicit finite volume method. The real gas effects are considered in the calculation of discharge coefficient as well as in the computation. The computational results are compared with the previous experimental data and predict well the measured mass flow rates. It has been found that the discharge coefficient for high-pressure hydrogen gas can be corrected properly adopting the real gas effects.