Electro-Thermal Validation of External Short Circuit Models for Next-Generation Li-ion Pouch Cells
Álvaro Herrán1,2, Ruben Gutierrez1, Jean Luc Dauvergne1, Ivan Torrano1, Larraitz Ganborena2, Naroa Aragón2, Ana Viso2, Antonio Garcia3, Emilie Bekaert1 and Jokin Rikarte1
1 Centre for Cooperative Research on Alternative Energies (CIC energiGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Alava Technology Park, Albert Einstein 48, 01510 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. Contact: aherran@cicenergigune.com
2 CIDETEC, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Po. Miramón 196, 20014 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
3 CMT – Clean Mobility and Thermofluids, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera 7 s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
The increasing energy density of lithium-ion pouch cells poses significant safety challenges under electrical abuse conditions. Among them, external short circuit (ESC) represents one of the most severe scenarios, leading to rapid current rise, fast temperature increase, and the risk of critical events such as thermal runaway (1). External short circuits can occur due to accidental contact with conductive components or failure of protection systems, making their prediction essential for safety validation and pack-level design (2).
This work presents an electro-thermal modeling framework for the analysis of external short circuit events in next-generation lithium-ion pouch cells. The approach combines experimental abuse testing with multiphysics simulations implemented in LS-DYNA (3), enabling the prediction of current evolution and temperature rise during short-circuit conditions. Model predictions are compared with experimental measurements to assess the capability of the framework to reproduce the electro-thermal response of the cell under ESC scenarios.
Such predictive modeling tools are particularly relevant for industrial and automotive applications, where increasing energy density reduces safety margins under fault conditions and requires improved simulation-based safety assessment.
KEYWORDS:
External short circuit (ESC), electro-thermal modeling, lithium-ion, abuse testing, LS-DYNA simulation, battery safety, thermal propagation.
REFERENCES:
1- ZHANG, Bo, et al. Rapid diagnosis and assessment of lithium-ion battery short circuit in three seconds across a wide range of short-circuit resistances. Applied Energy, 2025, vol. 390, p. 125872.
2- ZHOU, Xingzhen, et al. Study of lithium-ion battery module external short circuit risk and protection design. Journal of Energy Storage, 2024, vol. 86, p. 111070.
3- MARCICKI, James, et al. Battery abuse case study analysis using LS-DYNA. En 14th International LS-DYNA Users Conference. 2016.