Flow in Catalytic Converter of Spark Ignition Engine with Air Box

The paper deals with the fundamental understanding of complex processes taking place involving fluid flow, pressure, velocity profiles in the catalytic converter. The study of pressure contours and velocity vectors of fluid flow inside the catalytic converter are explained using numerical model. ANSYS Workbench 14.5 is been used for geometric modelling of catalytic converter. Domain discretization and analysis was carried out in Fluid Flow (Fluent). The substrate is modelled as porous. The pressure, velocity, mass flow and temperature fields in the converter with respect to inlet conditions are studied. In CFD analysis, fluid properties are specified with suitable assumptions. Parameters are taken from an experiment on a four stroke single cylinder spark ignition engine running at a speed of 3000rpm. Catalytic converter plays an important role in reducing harmful gases without changing the design of an engine, but the presence of catalytic converter increases the exhaust back pressure which results in the volumetric efficiency decrease and higher fuel consumption. Therefore studies on simulation of flow through the catalytic converter are very important.