Case Study: AVL achieves optimized Li-ion battery thermal management and validated electro-thermal simulations with Dassault Systèmes' Abaqus FEA

AVL - Customer Case Study

AVL, working on an EVARE demonstration to convert a gasoline car to an electric vehicle with range extender, faced the challenge of packaging 14 off‑the‑shelf Li‑ion modules into a constrained space while ensuring reliable thermal management, cell safety, and consistent pack performance across wide ambient and operating conditions. To address the need for realistic electro‑thermal prediction and design guidance, AVL turned to Dassault Systèmes’ Abaqus Unifi ed FEA for detailed battery thermal analysis.

Using Dassault Systèmes’ Abaqus FEA electro‑thermal capabilities coupled with AVL’s proprietary subroutines, the team ran 1D and 3D simulations to characterize different cell geometries, cooling methods and pack configurations, and to guide sensor placement and assembly gap management. The Abaqus models showed good correlation with lab measurements under various cooling and duty cycles, enabled evaluation of module designs with heat transfer coefficients from about 40–80 W/m^2·K yielding similar steady‑state temperatures, and gave AVL the confidence to optimize cooling at lower cost and provide more sophisticated performance and design recommendations to clients.

AVL

Kim Yeow

Technical Specialist