Proceedings of the 36th Chinese Control Conference

July 26-28, 2017, Dalian, China

Anti-vibration Safety Performance Research of Battery Pack based on

Finite Element Method in Electric Vehicle*
LI Gang1,2, FU Xingfeng2, YANG Yong2
1. South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
E-mail: lg5671489@126.com
2. Guangzhou Automobile Group CO., LTD Automotive Engineering Institute, Guangzhou 511434, China
E-mail: 304544669@qq.com, 84394972@qq.com

Abstract: The battery pack anti-vibration safety was analysed by structural intensity Finite Element Analytical Method and the
battery pack intensity, stiffness and anti-vibration FEA model were established. As a guide of FEA calculation results,
optimization design about battery pack inside and outside structure and welding method were used. The battery pack intensity,
stiffness and anti-vibration safety performance were improved greatly. The test and simulation were proved that optimized
battery pack should pass GB test and have excellent anti-vibration safety.
Key Words: Battery pack, Anti-vibration performance, Failure analysis

allowance to 1.1 times compare with last year allowance

1 Introduction standard.
Battery pack performance in electric vehicles (EV) is The purpose of this paper is to present an effective
critical to the vehicle’s performance and safety management analytical method to simulate battery pack anti-vibration
strategies. Accurate battery performance can’t sustain safety safety and seek to improve battery pack safety performance
use requirement under different environment for battery based on lightweight.
material and chemistry characteristic. However, battery
pack safety is important and constraints EV safety 2 Battery Pack Anti-Vibration Requirement
performance, then the research of battery pack safety was
taken seriously in recent years. In May, 2015, China Now more and more battery pack will be mounted on
General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection bottom of EV, the influencing factors of battery pack is
and Quarantine and China National Standardization obviously for vehicle be used. According to GB/T standard,
Administration Committee were published GB/T 31467.3, battery pack should be mounted on vibration test bench and
16 battery pack safety test requirements were include endure vibration impact on three direction. The table 1 is
Chinese new energy vehicles announcement check standard. shown the vibration test requirement. The test process start
with Z axis, next is Y axis and last test direction is X axis.
In the 16 safety test requirement, the battery pack anti-
The most stringent requirements are Z axis for the biggest
vibration test is the most difficult to pass. However,
vibration acceleration.
vibration operating condition is the most common situation
on EV. Therefore, it is very practical significance to study Table 1: Z AXIS POWER SPECTRUM PSD FOR BATTERY PACK
battery pack anti-vibration safety performance for EV.
Frequency(Hz) PSD g2/Hz PSD( m/s2)2/Hz
5 0.05 4.81
For new energy vehicle, additional drive motor and 10 0.06 5.77
batteries caused vehicle weight increased compared with 20 0.06 5.77
prototype vehicles, then there is a effective methods by 200 0.0008 0.08
RMS 1.44g 14.13m/s2
reduce vehicle quality. According to statistics, fuel
consumption will cut down from 6% to 8% if vehicles During the test process, the voltage of battery system min
weight; while hundred kilometers fuel consumption will cut monitoring unit can’t exceed 0.15 V, connection unit should
down from 0.3 to 0.5 L and CO2 will lessen from 8 to 10 g sturdy reliably and structure intact, batteries pack can’t
if vehicle quality drop 100 kg. Therefore, one of effective appear leak, shell rupture, fire or explosion. The insulation
measure for lessen fuel consumption and emission are resistance cannot less than 100 ¡/V after tested.
reducing vehicle weight[1,2]. Conversely, higher battery
pack energy ratio will bring more vehicle price allowance For electronic device of battery pack, connection parts
and low energy consumption, it means that more should structure intact and no loosening during testing
competitive strength and save more money. As is shown process. And battery monitor parameters should meet
reported in 2016, if battery pack energy ratio is over requirement after test.
120Wh/kg, the government will raise vehicle price

*
This work is partially supported by NSF Grant #2003168 to H. Simpson and CNSF Grant #9972988 to M. King.

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 Fig. 1 is shown the layout of an battery pack built on EV. ªl1 3 l1 6 0 0 " 0 º
ª F1 º «l 6 » (7)
It’s can be seen from the fig1, this battery pack is built the «F » «1 l1  l2 3 l2 6 0 " 0 »
« 2» « 0 l2 6 l2  l3 3 l3 6 0 0 »
bottom of EV, there are 12 bolts fixed battery pack on «#» « »
« » « 0 0 % % % 0 »
vehicle frame. In addition to satisfy anti-vibration and «#» « # % % % ln  2  ln 1 3 ln 1 6»
impact strength, ensure dust-proof and waterproof ¬« Fn ¼» «
" "
»
¬« 0 0 ln 1 6 ln 1 3¼»
requirement.
Welding seam failure process include 3 phase by
experimental data analysis.
0  a t  0.1 , short crack stage;
1 d a t d 1 , long crack stage;
a t ! 1 , fracture stage
Those analyze theory is the basis of the following FEA.

Displacement analysis method is usually used to judge

Fig. 1 The layout of battery pack of EV
The load condition of battery pack strength and stiffness
are from practical test date. In this paper, the horizontal
acceleration of battery pack is set as ±3 g, the vertical
acceleration is set as ±6 g.
3 Battery Pack Strength and Stiffness FEA
battery pack strength and stiffness. The following formula is
the unit node displacement relationship:
^u` >N @^G `e (8)
Where >N @ are shapes function matrix, ^G `e is unit node
displacement matrix, ^u` is any unit node point
displacement. According to selected displacement function,
the unit inner node strain equation is:

Finite element analysis (FEA) software has proved is an

^H ` >B@^G `e (9)
efficient analyse method in structure strength and stiffness The following equation is the relationship of node
within a few years. The same is trues, FEA technology can displacement and unit stress.
be used to analysis battery pack anti-vibration and impact
resistance. It’s assume there are two computing node of ^V ` >D@^H ` >D@>B@^G `e (10)
FEA model between distance 1 on the weld, the stress of
two node are respectively Fy1 and Fy2, then linear force of Node force is calculation by equation:
unit thickness along welding seam are respectively fy1 and
fy2. The following is equilibrium equation:
^F `e >K @e ^G `e (11)

t >K @e ³³³ >B@T >D@>B@dxdydz (12)

¦F  ³ fyi y x dx 0 炷1炸
Where >B@ are unit strain matrix, ^H ` are any unit strain
0
t column matrix, ^V ` are any unit strain stress column
¦F x  ³ f y x xdx
yi i 0 炷2炸
matrix, >D @ are unit elastic matrix, ^F ` are unit node
e
0
force, >K @ are unit stiffness matrix.
e
After solve the equation and the following is unit force
and unit torque of node:
4 Simulation of Battery Pack Strength and
f y1 2 2Fy1  Fy 2 l 炷3炸 Stiffness
f y2 2 2Fy 2  Fy1 l 炷4炸
Battery pack welding point FEA module can be built by
mx1 2 2M x1  M x 2 l 炷5炸 HyperMesh and Nastran software. Variety type unit element
welding point module replaces spot welding. The metal
mx 2 2 2M x 2  M x1 l 炷6炸
plate elastic modulus is set as E=210 GPa, while density is
set as U 7850 kg m , Poisson’s ratio is P 0.3 .
3
Where, t is the sheet metal thickness of battery pack.
When stress gradient is not change obvious, the accurate The modify was operating in HyperMesh Connector
results of computing unit linear force and torque can be module. According to different connection section,
obtained by calculation formula. However, the shape, size connection scheme can be divided ELEMID and ELPAT.
and stress gradient of welding seam unit great changes Welding surface 4 auxiliary points compose quadrilateral
when actual modelling. Under this circumstances, equivalence welding sectional area. FEA battery pack cover
simultaneous equations should be built and is solved for material is SMC, and SMC tensile strength is over 95MPa;
actual linear force and torque. tensile modulus is over 5000 MPa; fracture elongation is

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over 1.5%; bending strength is over 140 MPa; bending
modulus is over 4900 MPa. Battery pack case material is
CR340 while bracket material is DP780.
colour will show red. As is shown in Fig.5, the Z direction
anti-vibration durability life of battery pack case welding
seam and beam strength are show less than 1 hour. The
simulation result is far below GB pass requirement (24
hours).

Fig. 2 The finite element model of battery pack

Fig. 4 The simulation of battery pack stiffness under Z direction impact

5 FEA Optimization Design of Battery Pack

Fig. 3 The battery pack modal analysis formation diagram Strength and Stiffness

The first order mode of battery pack is 29.4 MHz and
satisfy the design requirement (standard is over 20 MHz).
It is shown in Table 2 and Table 3, there were so many
welding point strength can’t satisfy the design requirement.
It’s especially battery pack bracket max yield stress reach
1012 MPa and far more than the material yield strength.
Under Z direction -6 g vertical impact condition, battery
pack bracket max deformation is 7.3 mm and satisfy design
target.
In connection with front FEA result, it needs to
optimization design for deal with insufficient strength
problem. The redesign FEA result can be used to guide
optimization program. In order to reduce the stress
concentration of wielding seam and connection position to
yield strength.

Table 2: Z axis YILED Strength for battery pack Random Vibration

Max stress(MPa)
Inner Inner Outer Out
Cove
Case front rear front rear
r
beam beam beam beam
DC DC
Material BP380 780DP BP380 780DP
04 06
Yield strength
176 142 275 522 275 522
(MPa)
Z Axis Random
477 178 142 400 185 231
vibration (MPa)

Table 3: The Simulation of Battery Pack Intensity

Fig. 5 The Z axis anti-vibration simulation of battery pack
Front floor side Battery pack Rear floor beam
beam bracket
Yield 423MPa 534Mpa 356Mpa
strength
Simulation 259MPa 1012MPa 273MPa

The simulation of battery pack Z direction anti-vibration

test is shown in Fig.5. If there is a t 烍1, then the section

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 Fig. 6 The outside optimization design of battery pack bracket
Fig. 8 The flanging structure optimization design of battery pack case

It’s shown the enhanced design of battery pack bracket in

Fig.6. The weak position structure will be enhanced by Table 4: The simulation of battery pack intensity
strengthen parts, and the debility welding seam structure Front floor side Battery pack Rear floor lower
will redesign for increased strength. It is shows in Fig.7, this beam bracket beam
Yield strength 423 MPa 534 Mpa 356 Mpa
section spot welding structure change to seam welding
Max stress 179 MPa 452 MPa 147 MPa
program. The welding strength will enhanced hardly and
welding stress reduced greatly. Risk of welding seam The simulation of battery pack Z direction vibration
cracking and stress concentration greatly drop. durability test is shown in Fig.9. As is shown in Fig, battery
pack case welding stress and mounted stress obviously
reduce after optimization design. According to similar case
analysis, the simulation and test result are almost the same.
Therefore, it’s can be expected that battery pack anti-
vibration performance will pass the requirement and
effective failure to occur.

6 Test

According to GB/T requirement, the battery pack will

mounted on vibration test bench and carry on test and
verify. It is shown the battery pack Z axis vibration cracking
picture before optimization design. During the test, battery
Fig. 7 The welding structure optimization design of battery pack case pack shows large deformation and case mounting structure
split for bending stress over material yield limit. The test
failed just start a few hours. The failure position is similar
As is shown the flanging structure optimization design in
with simulation point. Experimental results certify the
Fig. 8, upper mold will tooling angle change from acute
simulation has high precision.
angle to larger angle, then the processing stress will reduce
hardly. Separated vertical beam was extended and
connected with horizontal beam which was stress
concentration section. Bottom sustain horizontal beams
were welded by three welding process and battery pack
stiffness was greatly enhanced. High strength steel was
changed in part of weak position sheet metal.

If resign battery pack structure and lightweight

optimization, FEA simulation under Z axis -6 g impact
condition is shown in Table 4.

As was shown in Table 4, all the parts max stress is less

than material yield strength under –6 g impact load. Max
deformation of battery pack is 4.4 mm and the mode of
battery pack is 28 MHz. it’s not only the mode, max
Fig. 9 The Z axis optimization design anti-vibration simulation of battery
deformation and max stress of battery pack all satisfy the pack
design requirement, but also anti-vibration safety
performance of battery pack largely increased.
As shown in Fig. 10, the battery pack Z axis vibration
test picture after optimization design.

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 From the test results, there are some deformations of
battery pack structure after test. However there were not
case breakage, leakage, outbreak of fire and explosion
appears, and the insulation monitoring status was normal
two hours after the test. All the information proved that
vibration test has passed after optimization design.
Fig. 10 The pack cracking picture under Z axis vibration test before
optimization design
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Fig. 11 The pack cracking picture under Z axis vibration test after
optimization design

7 Conclusion
EV battery pack anti-vibration performance was be
analysed by FEA in this paper. According GB vibration test
requirement, life-span analysis method was put forwarded
and simulation conditions was sum up. Battery pack
simulation analysis model was built by FEA
software.According to simulation, the battery pack structure
and mounting bracket thickness was optimization design to
improve anti-vibration performance of battery pack.
The results of this study show that FEA method is
effective optimization design method and can effectively
improve the efficiency of the analysis. Battery pack can
have superior anti-vibration performance by targeted
optimization design.

References
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