An experimental investigation of oblique entry pressure losses in automotive catalytic converters

摘要

This study investigates oblique entry pressure loss in automotive catalyst monoliths. Experiments have been performed on a specially designed flow rig using different lengths of monolith (17-100 mm) over a range of Reynolds number and angles of incidence (0-75°). Losses were found to be a function of Reynolds number and angle of incidence and a general correlation has been derived. Computational fluid dynamics predictions of the flow distribution across axisymmetric catalyst assemblies have been performed. Incorporating the oblique entry loss provided much better agreement with experimental data with the assumption that such losses were constant above an angle of incidence of 81°.