Numerical study of fluid flow and effect of catalytic converter volume in optimisation of diesel oxidation catalyst in a CI engine using CFD

Catalytic converter has become a necessity to achieve low emissions in all the C I engine driven vehicles. The design of catalytic converter has become critical which requires a thorough understanding of fluid flow inside the catalytic converter. In the present work, an attempt has been made to design and optimise the Close Coupled Catalytic converter using commercial Design software (IDEAS) and CFD tool (CFX). Catalytic converter has been designed for 1.4 L, 0.8L and 1L to achieve BS IV Norms. CFD study has been conducted for all three designs. The substrate region was modelled as a porous medium. The governing equations namely conservation of mass, momentum were solved for analysis. The predicted numerical results were validated with those available in literature. The analysis involved determining back pressure across the converter system for a given mass flow rate. The numerical results of Pressure drop, Space velocity, Velocity profile and Uniformity index were studied to optimise the volume of Catalytic converter.