Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) has been widely utilized as an experimental method for understanding the internal mechanisms and aging effect of lithium ion battery. However, the impedance interpretation still has a lot of difficulties. In this study, a multi-physics based EIS simulation approach is developed to study the cycling effect on the battery impedance responses. The SEI film growth during cycling is coherently coupled with the complicated charge, mass and energy transport processes. The EIS simulation is carried out by applying a perturbation voltage on the electrode surface, and the numerical results on cycled cells are compared with the corresponding experimental data. The effect of electrical double layer, electrode open circuit potential as well as the diffusivity of binary electrolyte are simulated on battery impedance responses. The influence of different SEI growth rate, thermal conditions and charging-discharging rate during cycling are also studied. This developed method can be potentially utilized for interpretation and analysis of experimental EIS results. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.