Laminar burning velocity of gases vented from failed Li-ion batteries

Abstract

In the last decade, several fires and explosions caused by Li-ion batteries (LIBs) have been reported. This can be attributed to the thermal runaway and catastrophic failures of LIBs that release combustible gases, which when mixed with air can lead to explosions and fires. To address this explosion hazard, we determine the laminar burning velocity (LBV) of three gas compositions associated with Li-ion failure and a pseudo (simplified) gas in a 20-L explosion sphere at 300 K and 100 kPa. This simplified gas avoids toxic gases in experiments and represent the desired explosion characteristics. The LBVs in the case of gas compositions range from approximately 300 to 1050 mm s −1. Additionally, four different reaction models are used to estimate the LBVs of these gas compositions. We compare the theoretical and experimental results to determine the prediction accuracy of the reaction models. All reaction models over- or under-predicted the LBV for the different gas compositions. A recommendation for choosing reaction models is given to predict LBV for various gas compositions. This study's results are intended as input to computational fluid dynamic simulations but can be used directly in safety engineering models.