A Numerical Study on the Flow Characteristics in the Catalytic Muffler with Different Inlet and Outlet Configurations

Lack of the space in many diesel vehicles make it difficult to design and install the catalytic muffler to reduce emissions. For this reason, inlet part of the catalytic muffler is made of L-type which has lower flow uniformity than conventional I-type, and catalytic muffler has complex internal structure by various insertions, which affect the flow uniformity and pressure drop of the systems. In this work, the flow characteristics such as flow uniformity and pressure drop have been numerically investigated by changing such various geometries as inlet shape, porosity, and outlet shape inside the muffler with the three-dimensional turbulent incompressible flow solver. Total 4 different cases are considered in order to find optimal configurations of the catalytic muffler in view of high flow uniformity and low pressure drop. The results show that Case 2 which has no induction cone and outlet perforated pipe has higher uniformity index and lower pressure drop than others considered in this work.