Numerical Study on Lithium-Ion Battery Thermal Runaway Under Fire Conditions

Thermal runaway caused by external fire is one of the important safety issues of lithium-ion batteries. A fully coupled multi-region model is proposed to simulate the thermal response of lithium battery under fire conditions. The external fire is modelled by LES with an extended EDC combustion model. Heat conduction equations are solved for individual battery regions. The computational domain is subdivided into one fluid region and six solid regions, and a conjugate heat transfer boundary condition is applied to the interfaces. The proposed numerical model is then used to simulate the thermal response and thermal runaway behavior of a lithium battery pack under external fire conditions. The temperature distribution inside the battery pack is compared with the experimental results. The predictions are in good agreement with the experimental data. It is demonstrated that the proposed model has the capability to predict the thermal response of lithium battery subjected to external fire conditions.