Hydrogen storage: modeling and analytical results (Q870504)

Hydrogen storage is a challenging subject in energetic and industrial applications. Being different from the traditional way for storing and transporting of hydrogen (by which hydrogen is usually stored and transported as a compressed gas), an alternative technique has been developed, namely exploiting the possibility of many metals to absorb hydrogen. The authors present a thermomechanical model for this storage problem. The model is reduced to the system of parabolic relations \[ \begin{aligned} (- b ''(\theta)\theta\chi+c_p )\theta_t - k_0 \Delta\theta &= b\theta\chi_t h'(\theta),\\ \mu \chi_t -\nu\Delta \chi+ \partial I_{[0,1]}(\chi)&\ni b(-h(\theta) + \log p),\\ \left(\frac{p}{a - b \chi }\right)_t -\Delta p&=0, \end{aligned} \] where \( \theta, \chi, p\) are the unknowns, the absolute temperature, the internal parameter, the pressure, respectively, and \(a, b, h, k_0,\nu,\mu \) are given quantities. \(I_{[0,1]}\) is the indicate function of \({[0,1]}\). Using energy estimates and weak convergence methods, the authors prove existence and uniqueness of the solution. Also regularity of the solution is studied.