Numerical analysis of light-off performance and thermo-fluid characteristics in a three-way monolithic catalytic converter 2000-05-0310

Mathematical modeling of three-way catalytic converter (3WCC) operation is used increasingly in the optimization of automobile converter systems. But almost all of previous computational models were based on "adiabatic one- channel" approach with the reaction kinetics computations, which is useful and efficient in predicting real-world performance of the catalyst. However, as long as flow maldistribution is not accounted for in the models, simulation results will not be reliable. In this work, two-dimensional performance prediction of catalyst coupled with turbulent reacting flow simulation has been performed and the results were compared with experimental data and one-channel simulation in the literature. The computational results from this study show the better prediction accuracy in terms of CO, HC and NO conversion efficiencies compared to those of 1-D adiabatic model. Varying cell density and hot spot moving pattern within the monolith during warm-up period are also considered. The results indicate that the higher cell density giving much larger geometric surface area shows the faster movement of thermal front of hot spot due to the higher convective heat transfer rate.