PREDICTIVE MODELING OF MECHANICAL DAMAGE AND POST-IMPACT BEHAVIOR IN EV LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES
PhDAER Seminar
January 20, 2025, from 14:30 until 17:00 - Sala Consiglio DAER, Building B12, 2nd Floor, Politecnico di Milano, Campus Bovisa, Via la Masa 34, Milano
The seminar will be also available online on TEAMS
As electric vehicles become more widespread, ensuring lithium-ion battery safety under crash conditions is critical.
Mechanical impacts can cause internal cell damage, leading to short circuits or thermal runaway.
This seminar presents an integrated framework for modeling mechanically abusive loading in EV batteries, combining experimental testing, material characterization, and the Sahraei Failure Criterion.
The approach is validated across multiple commercial cell formats using finite element simulations.
The seminar also introduces ongoing multi-physics developments that couple mechanical damage with electrochemical and thermal behavior, including impedance-based diagnostics for post-impact health and safety assessment.
These tools enable improved detection of latent damage and support the design of safer, more resilient battery systems.
Speaker:
Prof. Elham Sahraei, Director of Electric Vehicle Safety Lab (EVSL) and Center for Battery Safety (CBS), Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Dr. Elham Sahraei is an internationally recognized expert in electric vehicle and lithium-ion battery safety. She is an Associate Professor at Temple University and founding Director of the Electric Vehicle Safety Lab and the Center for Battery Safety. Previously, she co-directed the MIT Battery Consortium. Her research, published in leading journals, focuses on mechanical failure and internal short-circuit prediction in batteries. She developed the Sahraei Failure Criterion, a mechanics-based framework widely validated and adopted by industry. Dr. Sahraei leads government- and industry-funded projects, holds patents in transportation safety, and received the 2024 ASME Edward F. Obert Award. She holds a PhD from George Washington University.
Free admission, open to all members of the university community and the public, subject to availability.
Image credits: Mario Roberto Duran Ortiz / Wikimedia Commons
13.01.2026