Defining the Material Properties with the Table (T,c) Method

For battery cell simulations, it is sometimes necessary to account for non-ideal electrolyte properties, as the behavior of battery cells depends on both temperature and concentration. In such cases, you are recommended to assign temperature-concentration dependent material properties by using the Table (T,c) method.

A (T,c) table consists of three columns, one for the material property itself, and two additional columns that give corresponding values of temperature and concentration, see Using Table (T,c).
The following material properties can be defined with the Table (T,c) method :
  • Cation Transference Number
  • Concentrated Solution Correction to Salt Diffusivity
  • Electrical Conductivity
  • Lithium/Salt Diffusivity
  • Non-Ideal Solution Correction to Salt Migration
  • Molecular Diffusivity (for the Concentrated Electrolyte model only) can be defined with the tabular form (Table(T,c)) method for the material properties of the liquid mixture.

To define the material properties using the Table (T,c) method:

  1. Expand the [physics continuum] > Models > Multi-Component Liquid > Liquid Components > [liquid component] > Material Properties node.
  2. Select the Material Properties node and set Method to Table (T,c).
  3. For molecular diffusivity, expand the Models > Multi-Component Liquid > Material Properties > Molecular Diffusivity node.
    1. Select Component Diffusion Coefficients node and set Method to Composite.
    2. Expand the relevant [physics continuum] > Models > Multi-Component Liquid > Liquid Components > [liquid component] > Material Properties node and set the
    3. set Method to Table (T,c)
  4. Import the Table (T,c) table into Simcenter STAR-CCM+ using one of the following methods:
    • Import a T , c , D a t a table as a file table under the Tools > Tables node.
    • Import a T , c , D a t a table into the Standard material database.
    • Use a material from the material database. If present, predefined Table (T,c) methods are automatically imported.
    1. Under Tools > Material Databases, right-click the database material node and select New Database Properties...
    2. In the Select Database Properties dialog, activate Table (T,c) for the following properties, then click OK.
      • Cation Transference Number
      • Concentrated Solution Correction to Salt Diffusivity
      • Electrical Conductivity
      • Non-Ideal Solution Correction to Salt Migration
      • Lithium/Ion Diffusivity (for the Li-Ion Battery Cell model only)
      • Electrical Conductivity
      • Molecular Diffusivity (for the Concentrated Electrolyte model only)
      The new nodes appears under the material node. In the example below, the option Molecular Diffusivity was selected. The resulting additions to the object tree are nodes representing the Molecular Diffusivity material property with the Table (T,c) method.

      NoteFor a multi-component liquid you repeat this procedure for all components of your liquid mixture.
    3. Right-click the relevant [database property] > Table (T,c) interpolation table node and set Input table to the table containing the T,c, and data.
    4. Specify the columns that represent the values for the property, the temperature, and the concentration using the properties, Table: Data, Table: Temperature, and Table: Concentration.
    5. In the Input Table dialog, select the appropriate table file and click Open.
      The selected table is loaded into the material database. Each material property in a Simcenter STAR-CCM+ material database file is identified using a unique tag. See Creating Material Databases.
  5. Depending on the type of material property that you are setting, use the imported table to define the temperature-concentration dependent properties.