Jurnal Polimesin
Vol 24, No 3 (2026): June

CFD-based thermal limit prediction of LiFePO4 submarine battery modules using UDF heat generation and hybrid cooling

Fajri Narotama (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, Surabaya, Indonesia)
Prabowo Prabowo (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, Surabaya, Indonesia)



Article Info

Publish Date
30 Jun 2026

Abstract

This study investigates the transient thermal behavior of LiFePO4 battery modules in a diesel-electric submarine battery compartment under constant 1C and 1.4C discharge conditions. A three-dimensional CFD model was developed in ANSYS® Fluent, with conjugate heat transfer between the battery modules, the air domain, and the liquid cooling channels. Battery heat generation was calculated through a compiled User-Defined Function derived from an equivalent-circuit heat-generation formulation. The module was represented as a homogenized orthotropic solid, allowing the compartment-scale model to be solved without resolving each cell. The heat-source model was validated against published experimental data for a 100 Ah prismatic LFP cell, yielding an RMSE of 0.28°C and an MAE of 0.24°C. At 1C discharge, hybrid cooling reduced the final maximum temperature from 48.25 °C to 45.26°C, while both cooling configurations remained below the 50°C thermal cutoff. At 1.4C discharge, natural convection reached the cutoff at 2140 s, whereas hybrid cooling delayed it to 2403 s, extending the operating window by 263 s (12.3%). Although the reduction in final maximum temperature was limited, the average temperature decreased by 5.62°C. These results indicate that hybrid cooling mainly reduces global heat accumulation, while internal heat conduction remains the dominant factor governing local hotspot formation.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

polimesin

Publisher

Subject

Automotive Engineering Control & Systems Engineering Engineering Materials Science & Nanotechnology Mechanical Engineering

Description

Polimesin mostly publishes studies in the core areas of mechanical engineering, such as energy conversion, machine and mechanism design, and manufacturing technology. As science and technology develop rapidly in combination with other disciplines such as electrical, Polimesin also adapts to new ...