Modeling Thermal Runaway in Prismatic Lithium-Ion Batteries

Abstract Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are widely used in various applications due to their high energy density and long cycle life, but their safety is a significant concern because of the potential for thermal runaway, which can lead to catastrophic failure. The present study investigates thermal runaway (TR) for prismatic cell geometries with inter-cell contact resistances using finite volume based PDE solver implemented in MATLAB and Julia. This solver can handle transient, convection, diffusion, and linear and constant source terms in all cartesian, cylindrical, and spherical coordinates. It provides convenient postprocessing capabilities and a direct graphical interface. The results obtained from the finite volume approach are compared with two other models, GPYRO and COMSOL Multiphysics, and show good agreement between them. The study finds that the inter-cell contact resistance has a significant effect on the thermal behavior of LIBs and must be considered when designing and modeling battery systems. The FVM toolbox is demonstrated to be a reliable and efficient tool for predicting the critical conditions for thermal runaway in LIBs, providing valuable insights into the complex heat and mass transfer processes that govern thermal runaway. The study highlights the potential of the FVM toolbox for use in battery design and safety analysis, guiding the development of safer and more reliable energy storage systems. By accurately predicting the onset of thermal runaway, the FVM toolbox can identify critical design parameters and provide insights into the effects of changes in cell geometry and inter-cell contact resistance on the thermal behavior of LIBs.