Experimental study on explosion risk assessment of thermal runaway gas from aviation lithium batteries

doi:10.16265/j.cnki.issn1003-3033.2026.02.0183

Abstract

Abstract:

To improve the accuracy of airworthiness assessment for aviation lithium batteries, this paper evaluated the feasibility of equivalent substitution of propane mixed gas in the explosion containment test of thermal runaway gases of aviation lithium batteries. Based on airworthiness standards, the explosion characteristics of standard volume fraction propane and in-situ thermal runaway gases from lithium batteries at different states of charge (SOC) were experimentally compared and analyzed. Ternary lithium batteries were employed, and a dedicated experimental platform was constructed to systematically measure the explosion temperature, maximum explosion overpressure, and pressure rise rate of the thermal runaway gases under different SOCs. The results indicate that the explosion limit range of the lithium battery thermal runaway gases significantly widens with increasing SOC, with a maximum explosion overpressure of 0.519 8 MPa and an explosion power index of 1.093 9. For propane within the standard volume fraction range (3.85% to 4.25%), the maximum explosion overpressure reached 0.822 5 MPa, with an explosion power index of 1.501 7, its explosion potential being higher than that of thermal runaway gases under most SOC conditions. Directly adopting the standard propane concentration for explosion containment verification may lead to over-testing, resulting in an excessively high safety margin. Propane can serve as a preliminary assessment medium, but for equivalent substitution, the test concentration needs to be optimized in combination with the actual SOC state.

Key words: aviation lithium battery, thermal runaway gas, explosion risk, propane mixed gas, airworthiness assessment, equivalent substitution

CLC Number:

X932爆炸安全与防火、防爆

YANG Juan, LIANG Xue, BAO Fangwei, ZHANG Qingsong. Experimental study on explosion risk assessment of thermal runaway gas from aviation lithium batteries[J]. China Safety Science Journal, 2026, 36(2): 93-101.

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气体种类	荷电状态	爆炸上限/%	爆炸下限/%
热失控原位气体^[18]	100%SOC	30.16	8.80
	70%SOC	24.26	9.10
	50%SOC	18.75	9.21
丙烷^[23]	—	9.50	2.20

荷电状态	发生爆炸的概率L
100%SOC	0.459 8
70%SOC	0.387 5
50%SOC	0.299 1

荷电状态	热失控气体体积分数/%	最大爆炸超压/MPa
100%SOC	22.23	0.519 8
70%SOC	17.61	0.488 0
50%SOC	15.20	0.445 5

荷电状态	最大爆炸超压/MPa	平均升压速度v/ (MPa·s^-1)	爆炸威力指数K
100%SOC	0.519 8	2.104 5	1.093 9
70%SOC	0.488 0	1.942 5	0.947 9
50%SOC	0.445 5	1.733 5	0.772 3