Numerical Investigation of Fluid Flow Through Catalytic Converter using Topological Changes.
Abstract
In the current scenario Air pollution and global warming are the major issues in the world. And the emissions from internal combustion engine contribute more amount of air pollution. Catalytic converter plays an important role in reducing these harmful emissions, but the presence of catalytic converter increases the exhaust back pressure. This increase in back pressure causes increase in fuel consumption and decrease in the efficiency of engine. In this study, Numerical investigation is carried out in order to understand the flow through the catalytic converter using different topological changes. An attempt has been made to design and get the optimized back pressure of catalytic converter by using CFD software (Fluent). A CFD model K-epsilon turbulence model and porous media are utilized to simulate the flow through monolithic ceramic substrate. The analysis involved determining back pressure across the converter system for a given mass flow rate. In CFD analysis various models with different topological changes such as Inlet cone diameter (90mm,95mm,100mm), inlet Cone angle (90o,45o,23o) Cone length (25mm,65mm,65mm) were simulated using the appropriate boundary conditions and fluid properties specified to the system with suitable assumptions. The numerical results were studied to get the optimized back pressure at inlet of the converter and it is found to be at 100mm cone diameter and cone angle 23o.
