Thermal Safety and Fire Behavior of Energy Storage Systems

Dear Colleagues,

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) have rapidly become indispensable for integrating variable renewable energy sources, enhancing grid stability, and improving power quality. However, their growing scale and energy density make the prevention and management of thermal runaway and ensuing fire phenomena a central scientific and engineering challenge. Thermal runaway is a coupled thermo-electro-chemical process that can escalate from localized self-heating to cell venting, jet flames/deflagration, ejection of hot particulates, and post-event re-ignition. System-level risk is further influenced by rack and enclosure layouts, ventilation, explosion relief, and the performance of suppression systems.

We particularly welcome studies that illuminate the multi-physics pathways from heat generation to runaway onset, fire growth, gas release, jet fires or explosions, and early warning and fire suppression technologies. Submissions may cover lithium-ion (LFP, NMC, etc.) as well as emerging chemistries (e.g., sodium-ion, Na–S, and flow batteries) where thermal, off-gas, and fire behaviors differ. Equally important are quantitative characterizations of toxic and corrosive species (e.g., HF-bearing products), their transport in enclosures, and implications for occupants, first responders, and the environment, including contaminated run-off management.

Against this backdrop, there is an urgent need to consolidate advances across mechanisms, sensing and diagnostics, quantitative modeling, and suppression/containment strategies—while ensuring that results align with codes and standards and can be directly applied by practitioners. This Special Issue responds to that need. 

The Special Issue will gather original research and authoritative reviews that (i) elucidate multiscale mechanisms of heat generation, runaway onset, propagation and re-ignition; (ii) develop and validate predictive models of ignition, fire growth, suppression and extinction; (iii) quantify gas/particulate emissions, toxicity and corrosivity with decision-grade metrics; (iv) advance early warning, detection and prognostics via multi-sensor fusion and BMS-centered analytics; (v) evaluate suppression agents/technologies and system integrations that minimize collateral damage and re-ignition risk. We particularly welcome standards-aligned experiments (e.g., cell-to-rack/container propagation), open datasets/benchmarks, and work translating findings into siting, design and response guidance.

Fire publishes fundamental and applied research on fire dynamics, detection, toxicity, suppression, fire safety engineering, and incident learning across built and natural environments. BESS fires are an archetypal multi-physics, high-consequence problem at the interface of combustion science, materials/thermal sciences, and safety engineering. The Special Issue sits squarely within the journal’s scope by linking fundamental fire behavior (ignition, flame dynamics, heat release, vitiated-air flammability, particulate/gas toxicity) to practical engineering measures (ventilation and explosion relief, suppression system design, risk assessment, codes and standards, and first-responder practice). By convening both mechanism-driven studies and system-level validations, the collection will provide an integrated reference for researchers, OEMs, safety engineers and responders.

Both research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Heat generation, thermal runaway, and propagation in batteries
• Fire and explosive dynamics of a battery
• Modeling of ignition, spread, and extinction of battery fires
• Gas emission and toxicity in battery thermal runaway
• Early warning, detection, and prediction of battery fires
• Novel fire suppression agents and technologies for batteries

Dr. Pengjie Liu
Prof. Dr. Lihua Jiang
Dr. Zonghou Huang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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