Design and crashworthiness analysis of electric vehicle battery pack structures with various frame geometries using explicit dynamic analysis

Abstract

Electric vehicle (EV) battery packs function not only as energy storage systems but also as structural components that affect vehicle safety during crash events. This study evaluates the crashworthiness performance of EV battery pack structures with three frame geometries, namely cylindrical, triangular, and semi-circular configurations, using explicit dynamic finite element analysis in ANSYS Workbench 2023 R1. Frontal (-Z) and lateral (-X) impact simulations were performed at an impact velocity of 10 m/s. The parameters investigated included maximum von Mises stress, total deformation, and internal energy absorption. The simulation results show that the triangular frame experienced the highest stress levels, reaching 241.2 MPa during frontal impact and 268.8 MPa during lateral impact, mainly because stress accumulated around its sharp corners. In comparison, the semi-circular frame showed the lowest stress values even though having the highest internal energy absorption, with values of 5.05 MJ and 5.12 MJ when experiencing frontal and lateral impacts. Although this configuration is having the largest deformation, it spread more evenly on the structure. this indicates that the mechanism for dissipating impact energy is more effective. Overall, the results show that the frame geometrics with smooth and continuous profiles show better crashworthiness performance. This is because of the design reduces stress concentration and improves the energy absorption of the EV battery pack structure.