With the rapid development of battery energy storage technology, the issue of thermal runaway (TR) in lithium-ion batteries has become a key challenge restricting their safe application. This study presents an innovative protection strategy that integrates liquid cooling with sodium acetate trihydrate (SAT)-based composite phase change materials (CPCM) to mitigate TR and its propagation in prismatic battery modules. Through numerical simulation, this study systematically investigates the TR protection mechanism and optimization pathways for prismatic battery modules. The results indicate that pure SAT exhibits poor latent heat performance due to its low thermal conductivity. In contrast, the incorporation of expanded graphite (EG) significantly enhances thermal conductivity and improves the overall latent heat performance. Compared to traditional paraffin-expanded graphite (PA-EG), SAT-EG, with a latent heat 4.8 times higher than that of PA-EG, demonstrates more than six times the effectiveness in delaying thermal runaway propagation (TRP). When combined with liquid cooling, the TR protection effect is further enhanced, and TR will not be triggered when the initial abnormal heat generation rate is relatively low. Even if an abnormal battery experiences TR, its propagation will be prevented when the thickness of the SAT-EG exceeds 12 mm. Ambient temperature influences both the peak temperature and the timing of its occurrence in the battery module. Among the different liquid cooling layouts, the combined bottom and side cooling scheme exhibits superior performance compared to the standalone schemes.

Hydrogen, as a renewable and clean energy carrier, has the potential to play an important role in carbon reduction. Crucial to achieving this is the ability to produce clean sources of hydrogen and to store hydrogen safely. With the rapid development of the hydrogen industry, the number of hydrogen refueling stations (HRS) is increasing. However, hydrogen safety at HRS is of great concern due to the high risk of hydrogen leakage during storage. This study focused on an integrated hydrogen production and refueling station (IHPRS) in Weifang, China, and numerically simulated a hydrogen leakage accident in its storage area. The effects of the leakage aperture, the leakage direction and the ambient wind direction and speed on the leakage and dissipation characteristics of hydrogen were investigated. The results showed that the volume, mass and dissipation time of the flammable hydrogen cloud (FHC) increased with an increase in the leakage aperture. The installation of a canopy or densely packed equipment near the hydrogen storage area will seriously hinder the dissipation of the FHC. Ambient winds in the opposite direction of the leakage may cause high-concentration hydrogen to accumulate near the hydrogen storage tanks and be difficult to dissipate, seriously threatening the safety of the integrated station.

This study addresses the constitutive relationship of the welded coarse-grained heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) in 80-mm-thick DH36 marine steel plates. By integrating quasi-static tensile testing, digital image correlation (DIC) technology, and metallographic analysis, we systematically investigated the mechanical property differences and underlying mechanisms between the CGHAZ and base metal (BM). High-precision DIC technology enabled strain field characterization at the microscale in the CGHAZ, while the Ramberg-Osgood model was adopted to establish a dual-material constitutive equation. The results demonstrate that grain coarsening induced by welding thermal cycles significantly influenced the mechanical responses: the CGHAZ exhibited enhanced tensile strength but reduced plastic compatibility due to decreased grain boundary density. Notably, gradient differences in elastic modulus (CGHAZ: 184 GPa vs. BM: 213 GPa) and yield strength (CGHAZ: 363 MPa vs. BM: 373 MPa) between the BM and CGHAZ necessitate strict differentiation in engineering design. This work overcomes the limitations of oversimplified CGHAZ properties in conventional design approaches, providing a novel methodology for strength assessment and lightweight design of marine structures. The findings offer critical theoretical insights and practical guidelines for enhancing the reliability of offshore engineering equipment.

With the continuous rise in the energy density of power batteries, battery heat generation has become an increasingly severe issue. Particularly under extreme conditions combining high summer temperatures and high discharge rates, battery thermal safety is facing tremendous challenges. To address this problem, this study proposes a honeycomb liquid cooling–PCM hybrid battery thermal management system (BTMS) based on fin–casing synergistic heat transfer enhancement. We analyzed the effects of the longitudinal fins and thermal conductive casing on the thermal characteristics of the system, further investigated the influence patterns of key factors including fin number, battery spacing and contact thermal resistance on the thermal performance of the honeycomb BTMS, and clarified the action mechanisms of each structure and parameter on battery temperature rise and temperature uniformity. The results show that the fin structure enhances longitudinal heat conduction, improves liquid cooling efficiency, and effectively reduces the maximum battery temperature, while the thermal conductive casing significantly improves battery temperature uniformity. The BTMS with fin–casing synergistic heat transfer enhancement can control the maximum battery temperature and temperature difference within 60 °C and 5 °C, respectively, under extreme operating conditions.

Compared with gaseous hydrogen at ambient temperature, liquid hydrogen (LH₂) possesses a higher volumetric energy density and is therefore regarded as one of the most economically viable hydrogen storage and transportation options. However, the extremely large temperature difference between the storage temperature of LH₂ and the ambient environment may give rise to serious safety hazards once a leakage accident occurs. Focusing on an integrated hydrogen production and refueling station (IHPRS), this study investigates the suppression effect of a novel synergistic protection system—combining a barrier wall and an air curtain—on LH₂ leakage and dispersion. By comparing the dispersion distances of hydrogen clouds under different barrier wall–air curtain configurations, the optimal synergistic structure was identified as a barrier wall with a planar size of 36 m × 12 m and a height of 3 m, combined with an air curtain velocity of 40 m/s. The reliability of this structure is further evaluated under practical influencing factors: under varying natural wind conditions, the maximum downwind dispersion distance is reduced by up to 58.02%; at a flash evaporation mass fraction of 20%, horizontal dispersion is suppressed by 42.18% and 33.17% in the X- and Z-directions, respectively; and at a leakage mass flow rate of 5.15 kg/s, the X-direction dispersion distance is reduced by 33.88% with a 40.14% increase in cloud height. The results show that the proposed barrier wall–air curtain synergistic protection structure can effectively alter the dispersion path of the FHC (refers to the hydrogen cloud with a volume concentration within the flammable range between 4 and 75% vol) formed by LH₂ leakage, shorten the hazardous downwind distance, and enhance the vertical dispersion of the FHC. These findings provide theoretical support and safety guidance for the risk control of LH2 leakage accidents in IHPRS.

With the widespread application of lithium-ion battery energy storage stations, thermal runaway (TR) of energy storage batteries has evolved into a safety issue that cannot be overlooked. To prevent the propagation of thermal runaway, this study proposes a thermal runaway protection strategy for prismatic battery modules based on the sodium acetate trihydrate-expanded graphite (SAT-EG), aerogel felt (AEGF) and liquid cooling. The study also investigates the impact of factors such as the thickness of the SAT-EG, the thickness of the AEGF, and the area of the AEGF on the protection performance. The results show that compared with the conventional paraffin-expanded graphite (PA-EG), SAT-EG can block the propagation of thermal runaway, but the maximum temperature of adjacent batteries still approaches T2 (T2 denotes the battery thermal runaway triggering temperature). After introducing AEGF to form a sandwich structure, the maximum temperature of adjacent batteries can be effectively controlled below T1 (T1 denotes the temperature at which heat generation from battery side reactions intensifies). However, the utilization rate of SAT-EG is relatively low, and the thermal runaway trigger time of the thermal runaway battery is advanced. By reducing the AEGF area, the overall utilization rate of SAT-EG can be effectively improved, and the thermal runaway trigger time of the thermal runaway battery can be significantly delayed, gaining time for the detection and handling of thermal runaway and ensuring the safety of energy storage power stations.