Review article
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5599/jese.3573
Electrochemical-thermal coupled modelling of lithium-ion batteries: a review of three-dimensional frameworks, internal heterogeneity and parameter-driven thermal control
Abubakar Khan
; School of New Energy, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
*
Khalid Hussain
; School of New Energy, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Accurate prediction of coupled electrochemical and thermal behaviour is essential for improving the performance, durability, and safety of lithium-ion batteries. Internal heat generation, nonuniform reaction-current density, lithium-concentration gradients, and spatial temperature variation become particularly important under high-rate operation and nonuniform cooling. This review critically evaluates electrochemical-thermal coupled modelling approaches, with emphasis on model dimensionality, three-dimensional internal heterogeneity, heat-generation mechanisms, computational efficiency, and parameter-dependent thermal behaviour. Electrochemical formulations ranging from single-particle and reduced-order models to pseudo-two-dimensional frameworks are examined together with lumped, one-dimensional, two-dimensional, and three-dimensional thermal models. Irreversible reaction, reversible, and solid- and electrolyte-phase ohmic heat-generation mechanisms are discussed, and direct, sequential, hybrid, and multiscale coupling strategies are compared in terms of information exchange, physical fidelity, parameter requirements, and suitability for real-time or high-resolution applications. A validated three-dimensional pouch-cell case study illustrates how active-material particle size, electrode thickness, discharge rate, and convective heat transfer influence overpotential, lithium-concentration nonuniformity, heat generation, and temperature distribution. The reviewed evidence indicates that reduced-order models are advantageous for control and online estimation, whereas high-fidelity three-dimensional models are required to resolve localized electrochemical and thermal behaviour. However, practical implementation remains constrained by computational cost, parameter uncertainty, simplified boundary conditions, and limited validation of internal variables. Future progress requires computationally efficient physics-based and surrogate models, standardized parameter identification, uncertainty quantification, integration of aging and mechanical degradation, advanced internal diagnostics, real-time digital twins, and multiscale extension from cells to modules and packs. This review provides a structured basis for selecting electrochemical-thermal models according to battery geometry, operating conditions, required outputs, and computational constraints.
Keywords
Battery modelling; heat generation; temperature nonuniformity; multiphysics simulation; pouch cells; digital twins; safety assessment
Hrčak ID:
351130
URI
Publication date:
19.8.2026.
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