Scalable Simulation of the P4D Battery Model for Complex 3D Electrodes

Recent advancements in additive manufacturing enable the creation of shaped electrodes with intricate 3D structures, such as interpenetrating geometries, which minimize ion transport losses and allow for thicker cells with higher energy densities. Modeling such systems necessitates extending the Doyle-Fuller-Newman Pseudo-2D (P2D) framework to a Pseudo-4D (P4D) model that couples a 3D electrode-level description with a 1D particle model. However, the large, refined meshes required for these geometries make direct solvers computationally intractable due to poor scalability. In this work, we present a scalable iterative solver for the P4D model, incorporating a custom-designed block preconditioner that leverages the structure of the fully coupled system. The solver’s scalability is evaluated across various electrode geometries and material configurations. This approach provides a powerful computational tool to explore and optimize complex 3D electrode designs, advancing battery performance and innovation. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 and was supported by the LLNL-LDRD program under project number 23-SI-002. Release number LLNL-ABS-871524.