A Finite Element Model of 18650 Lithium-Ion Battery for Explosion Caused by Internal Short Circuit

The lithium-ion battery (LIB) is widely used in portable devices, power tools and electric vehicles, which becomes one of the most important moving power sources. However, inevitable internal short circuits may cause the pressure inside the battery rising, leading to fire or intensive explosion. In this paper, a finite element (FE) model is established to reasonably capture the major explosion behavior of 18650 battery, one of the most prevailing battery models in electric vehicles, caused by internal short circuit. An explosive load is applied to the 18650 battery FE model based on ABAQUS platform to simulate the internal short circuit. The FE model includes key components such as anode part, cathode part, multi-layered separator and the outside shell. Mechanical parameters are taken from previous studies [1] as well as current mechanical testing, with the consideration of temperature, strain rate and anisotropy effect. Result may provide future in-depth studies to study the lithium-ion battery explosion which are not available from the real-world experiment such to guide the optimal design for safe battery manufacturing.