Hydrogen Properties and Their Safety Implications for Experimental Testing of Wing Structure-Integrated Hydrogen Tanks

Hydrogen is a promising candidate for addressing environmental challenges in aviation, yet its use in structural validation tests for W ing S tructure- I ntegrated high-pressure H ydrogen T anks (SWITHs) remains underexplored. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to assess the feasibility of conducting such tests with hydrogen at aircraft scales. It first introduces hydrogen’s general properties, followed by a detailed exploration of the potential hazards associated with its use, substantiated by experimental and simulation results. Key factors triggering risks, such as ignition and detonation, are identified, and methods to mitigate these risks are presented. While the findings affirm that hydrogen can be used safely in aviation if responsibly managed, they caution against immediate large-scale experimental testing of SWITHs due to current knowledge and technology limitations. To address this, a roadmap with two long-term objectives is outlined as follows: first, enabling structural validation tests at scales equivalent to large aircraft for certification; second, advancing simulation techniques to complement and eventually reduce reliance on costly experiments while ensuring sufficient accuracy for SWITH certification. This roadmap begins with smaller-scale experimental and numerical studies as an initial step.