Computational Modelling of Thermal Runaway Propagation in Lithium-Ion Battery Systems

Different abuse conditions in Lithium-Ion batteries may lead to the so-called Thermal Runaway (TR) which releases the cell energy and the highly flammable and toxic venting gas. The propagation to the neighboring cells and modules may lead to fire and explosions. Hence, the propagation prevention is fundamental to meet safety requirements for electric vehicles.During battery pack development at AVL, this phenomenon is modelled applying CAE methods, allowing evaluation of design countermeasures: One cell is artificially triggered and the propagation to the other cells is evaluated, together with the ignition probability of the venting gas based on measured species concentration.