Basing on the Spallart-Allmaras turbulence model and the real gas equation of state, a numerical model is proposed in this paper to study the mechanism of temperature rise within hydrogen vehicle cylinder during refueling. The model is validated by comparing calculated results with experimental data. With the validated model, the effect of mass filling rate, initial pressure within cylinder and ambient temperature on the maximum temperature rise during refueling are investigated. The study shows that the maximum temperature rise increases with the growth in mass filling rate and ambient temperature, while it descends as the initial pressure increases. Finally, an empirical formula is obtained by fitting numerical results and effective methods for temperature control is given. (c) 2010 Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.