Indian Journal of Engineering & Material s Sciences

Vol. 10, February 2003, pp. 5-13

Optimum diffuser geometry for the automotive catalytic converter

G S Kulk arni ", S N Singh", V Seshadri" & Ratan Mohan b
"Department of Applied Mechanics, Indi an Institute of Technology, New Delhi , Indi a
bDepartment of Chem ical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology , New Delhi , Indi a
Received 8 March 2002; accepted 15 November 2002

Catalytic converters ha ve become an integral part of modern cars as they provide excellent control on pollutants but
also lead to reduction in the overall effici ency of the engine. In the present study, the geo metry of the inl et header. whi ch is
primaril y a diffuser, has been optimi zed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) fo r minimi zing the pressure loss. It has
been found that the optimum design of the diffuser is the one hav ing moderate diffuser half angle for most part of its length
and then gradual but stee per diffusion in the later part alo ng with a smooth wall curva ture.

Air po llution is an ide ntified problem the world over
and vehicular pollution accounts for more than 50%
of the total air pollution . In Delhi , it accounts for 70%
of the total air pollution '. Po lluta nts generally present
in auto e mi ss ions are carbon mono oxide, unburnt
hydrocarbons , oxides of nitrogen and particul ate
matter. All modern cars are provided with catalytic
converte rs to control these e mi ssion levels to the
minimum. Emissions (g/km) for 1.8 L petrol engine
with closed loop fuel inj ection are: No catalyst (Co
5.99, HC 1.67, NO x 1.04), with catalyst (Co 0.61 , HC
0 .07 , NO x 0.04), and for 1.9 L diesel engine with
direct injectio n are : No catalyst (Co 1.20, HC 0 .38,
NO, 0 .54, particulate 0 .07), with catalyst (Co 0.17,
HC 0 .05, NO. 0.42, particulate 0.04), [Courtesy:
Joh nso n Matthey ply , Londo n].
Th ese devices are generally pl aced near to the
eng ine ex hau st as its operation depends on the
e mi ss ion heat to boost the catalytic reactions . Though
the cataly tic co nverters provide excellent control on
pollutants in the auto emission, these lead to reduction
in the overall efficiency of the engine due to the
increased res istance to flow in the exhaust system and
hence, result in the reduction of the achievable peak
power. A Catalytic converter is a device, which is
fitted in the ex haust system of an automobile engine.
It consi sts of inlet pipe, inl et header generally in
shape of a diffu ser, plenum-chamber, contraction
nozzle and exhaust pipe. The plenum chamber has a
metallic honeycomb substrate, which is formed by
ro llin g a corrugated thin foil with a plain foil. The
plain foi l is coated with a very thin wash coat of
precious metals namely platinum, palladium and
rhodium . The present catalytic converters provid e an
excellent emission reduction but limit th e peak powe r.
which in turn affects th e fuel economy . To ove rcome
thi s shortcoming, there is need to optimi ze th e design.
Presently it see ms that no major cha nges are possible
in the plenum c hambe r but design changes a re
feasible in the inlet header.
Inlet header is a transition piece in the shape of a
diffu ser, which connects the inl et pipe to th e pienuill
chamber. Design of thi s tran si tion pi ece is ve ry
crucial as it strong ly affects the pressure loss du e to
fluid friction and the flow maldi stribution as a res ult
of flow separation . The input parameters fo r the
design of the inlet header are area ratio and its le ngt h.
There is a need to optimi ze the shape of the diffu sers
to improve their performan ce which in turn wi ll
reduce the peak power loss.
Daniel et 01.2 have investi gated the res tri c ti on
characteristics of mo nolith converters and fo un d that
header losses account for 50% of th e overa ll loss.
They have also shown th at off-sett ing th e exi t pipe.
res ults in hi gher losses. Kim et al ..1 ha ve made
numeri cal investigatio n to establi sh the trade o il
between flow unifo rmity and press ure drop in an
axisy mmetri c cata lytic converte r. Simi lar
inves tigation s have been re ported for Illon o l itil
auto motive catalytic conve rter by Lai e f (/I.~ usin g the
CFD code named 'Phoe nics'. Paul and Sacha' have
analyzed the substrate factors whi ch influe nce the
pressure drop and conve rsion effic ie ncy of the
catalyst syste m. Barri so developed a des ign based on
the optimi zation of co mbined cataly ti c co nvert er-
muffler considerin g the effect of the substrate. the
6 I DI A N J. ENG. M ATER. SCI. , FEB RUA RY 2003

total sys tem back press ure and its acousti cal behavior 'rij is th e stress tensor and is ex pressed as:
fo r low emi ssion di esel engines . Dani el el al.7 have
sugge. ted a di ffu ser des ign fo r minimum pressure
loss. The sugges ted diffuser geo metry involves au au
'r ij = - pO i j + ).,1 - -i +- -
[ax aX
j 1 . . . (5 )
bo unda ry laye r separati on but di ffuses the fl ow to j i

larger diameters with better fl ow di stributi on and

lower press ure losses. Thi s geometry is identi fied as where Oij is th e Kronecker's delta.
EDH geo metry in th e present study.
The relevant literature survey shows th at there is In turbul ent fl ows, small-sca le high freque ncy
substanti al sco pe to redu ce th e press ure losses in the flu ctuati ons are always prese nt. To acco unt fo r these
catalyti c co nv erter by improving th e diffu ser design fluctuati ons, a ti me averag ing procedure given by
of the inlet header. In the present study, an attempt Demird zic lo is employed to ex press th e equati ons as:
has been made to sugges t diffe rent diffuser designs
for improved performance of the catal ytic converter in
terms of press ure loss based on th e concept of overall ~ C U U .. )=O
I1X . \P Ij
. . . (6 )
j
diffuser effectiveness elaborated ex tensively by
Sov ran and Kl omp 8. Di ffusers with outl et
pi pes/downstream elements are not affected by th e
inlet conditions as mu ch as simil ar di ffu sers with free
~ . =[{pU iUj -C'fij - pil) t)}U ij l=SUi . . . (7)
j
discharge. For catalyti c co nverters, where di ffu ser has
an outl et pipe/downstream elements and the area rati o
Here -p Ui Uj are the Rey nolds stresses and th ese
exceeds th e normal prescribed limits, it is better to
need to be modeled in ord er to get clos ure so luti on. In
redu ce th e area rati o in the initial length and then have
th e prese nt study, thi s has been ach ieved by using
a sudde n ex pansion to feed th e fl ow to th e outl et
two-equation k-£ turbul ence model. Reynolds stresses
pipe/down-stream element. It is ex pected that thi s
are ex pressed in terms of turbul ent viscos ity and
co mbinati on will res ult in effi cient diffusion .
velocity gradi ents as :
Computational Procedure
A co mputer code deve loped by Agrawal el al. 9 for ... (8)
predi cti on of two dimensional (plane or
axisy mmetric ) fl ows in the arbitrary geometri es has
bee n adopted and modifi ed to carry out the present
In th e above equ ati on ).,I, is related to th e turbul ent
stu dy . The bas ic laws of fluid flow are the
co nservati on of mass and momentum and can be kin etic energy 'k' and di ss ipation rate '£' as:
described in coo rdinate free form for steady flo w as:
k 2
!-l , C p- . . . (9 )
div (PV )=0 (I) I' £

diV( PVV - T )=S u (2 ) The transport equ ati ons for k and £ for steady fl ow
have been given by Launder and Spald ing l l in ge neral
Acco rdi ng to Demird zic 10, these equation s for variable '<1> ' as :
steady, incompress ible subsonic fl ow can be
ex pressed in general Cartesian co-ordin ate as: .. . ( 10 )

~ (~ VU )= O
/1 . \P ... (3 )
.\ j
I I j and in Cartesian co-ordin ates as:

~ [LVV
/1 . }J I j
_ ('r)L . . ]=Su.I
Ij 'JU ' j
... (4) ... ( I I )
.\ j
 KULKARNI el a/.: OPTIMUM DIFFUSER GEOMETRY FOR THE AUTOMOTIVE CATALYTIC CONVERTER 7

In thi s equation, qq, i is the turbulent flux for a scalar In these equations, a set of constants CJ.l, C 1 , C~ . (J~
quantity and is ex pressed as: and (J£ are empirical constants and have th e va lues or
0.09, 1.44, 1.92, 1.0 and 1.33 respectively .
The solution of the governing eq uations for real lire
... (12)
flows is obtained using numerical technique as the
equations are non linear and coupled. Accuracy and
stability of the numerical solution depends on th e
where r <l> represents turbulent diffusivity of the scalar
method adopted for the discretizati on I ~ . The present
quantity and is written as:
numerical scheme is based on the finit e vo lume
approach . The details of the approach are explained
r q, =~
(J . .. (13) elsewhere l2 . A simple non-orthogo nal 2D algebraic
q, grid (Fig. I a) is employed in the selected geometri es.
After grids, the governing eq uati ons are discreti zcd
Here (Jq, is a constant. The source terms of 'k' and '£' using finite volume approach. The final form for the
are: discretized equation including all fluxes components
is written as:
SK=G-P£ ... (14)
( 17)
and,
where [A] is a M x M coefficient matrix. M is the
£ £2 total number of control volumes in th e grid; { <I>} is th e
-G-C2 pk-
SE =C lk ... (15) dependent variable vector of M nodal values, <I>
.... U ,y,P,K, etc.; {S} is a vector of M so urce terms .
The above set of equations is solved using. the
The function G is given as:
strongly implicit procedure l3 . For an iterati ve
solution, the above equations are written as :
G =1: .. - -'
au ... (16)
IJ aXj ... ( 18)

where <I> is the dependent variable, nb are the

neighboring nodes (= E, W, N, S; Fig. I b) and allh is -
A ij , i:;tj
To ensure convergence, under ' relaxation I S
employed.

1_
Storage loco! ions for index 1

_ U-v£>locity component

t v- veloc ity component

o Scaler variables (f.Rk .• .T....)

• Ca rt~sion coordina tes

=t>Mass flux in xl_di rection

~ Moss flux in x 2 _d irec ti on

Fig. I n- Vnriable Storage Locations and labe ling sc heme Fig. 1b-Coordinate system and base vectors
8 INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., FEBRUARY 2003
Boundary conditions
Com plete specifications of the inlet, exit and wall
boun dary co nditions assoc iated with the problem are
specified to solve the gove rnin g equ at ions. These are
of two types namely Dirichlet type in which the
boundary values like ve locity, etc., are specified and
Vo n Neumann type where in boundary flux es, etc.,
are specifi ed.
Validation tests
The co mputer algo rithm developed has been
va lidated against Nikuradse's profi le for pipe flow .
Flat ve locity profi le was fed at the inlet of pipe having
overall length more th an 60 di ameters. The predicted
veloc it y profile at 60 diameters has been compared
with the measured turbul ent velocity profile and both
agree reaso nabl y well. The seco nd validation test has
bee n done for flow in a conical diffuser. The
predicted res ults at different locati ons along th e length
com pare reasonabl y well with experimental results of
Habib and Whitelaw l 4 . The deviations observed were
wit hin ±5 % for the velocity profi le at th e outlet of the
con ica l diffuser (Fig. 2).
Geometries of investigated catalytic converter
Fi g. 3 shows th e physica l geometry of a catalytic
co nverter assembly, which consists of inlet pipe,
diffu ser, Is l and 2nd monolith with air gap, contraction
or nozzle and ex it pipe. In the present study, th e focu s
is on improv ing the design of the inlet diffuser. The
performance of the diffuser is dependent on the
geo metry and the do wnstream elements. To simulate
f lOt )(~ 22 cm
~ ·f'''''-''~e-!-,.~.rt-e1"~if"""All
~ 0 0 .5 1·0
RJ Ro
o Habibs expe riment
a Predicted (SOx 18 )
• MOxIS)
A (SOx42)
"" (12 0x42)
Fi~. 2-Validalion of CFO code aga inst expe rimental res ults
l4
the down-stream elements, small stra ight length is
incorporated on the down stream of the diffuser with
multiple annulus openin gs (Fig. 4) to simul ate th e
actual flow res istance offered by th e substrat c 7
Multiple annulus openings ha ve been incorporated in
the outlet pipe and th e height of each annulus openin g
was adjusted to achieve the same press ure loss as
determined experimentall y in a conventiona l diffu se r~ .
Having modeled the back press ure conditions, th e
following geo metri es have been investigated (A ll
dimensions given in the figure are in mm):
(i) Conventional diffuser - Fig 5a
(ii) Conventional diffuser with increased inl et
diameter - Fig 5b
(iii ) Enhanced Diffuser Header (E DH ) - Fig 5c
(iv) Two stage diffuser ( I) - Fi g 5c1
(v) Two stage diffuser (2) - Fi g 5e
(v i) Two stage short diffuser (I) - Fig 5f
(vii) Two stage short diffuser (2) - Fig 5g
(viii) Two stage short diffuser (3) - Fig 5h
In these sets of th e diffu sers, di ffu sers (i), (ii ) and
(iii) are investi gated to validate th e CFD Code fur
similar geometries. Next two diffusers (iv) and (v) are
Ai r
g ap
Diffuser 1st monolith I 2nd mon oli th
Inlet pipe
Fig. 3-Physical geo metry o f ca tal yti c convert er asse mbl y
Fig. 4-Cross-secti o na l view of 2-D ax isy mmet ri c substrat e.:
 KULKARNI et (II.: OPTIM UM DIFFUSER GEOMETRY fOR THE AUTOMOTIVE CATALYTI C CO NVERTER l)

r....
-7
0
-,
X
1 30°

N
0
_ J"""

""-
T
'""
...s
-=- (j
x
5
o

l
L 1--_ _--1

[~5~J L
~155'75
76.10--l
·1
Fig. Sa-Geometry of co nve nti o nal diffu ser Fi g. Se-2-Stage diffu ser (N= IS5.75 111111. <P2= 15° )

30° 1,5°

r -r 1 20
o R20
...,-
1
~
0
0-

0
X
N

:=
Q
r
...s
""- 0
---,-
X
N
C>

l t

1
""-

J 1-J 27 .7

Fig. 5b- Cu l1 ve llti unal difTu ~e r w ith increased inlet pipe diam eter
[".5 _110 )
Fi g. Sf- 2-Stage sho rt diffu se r (N=4R. 5 mm . ~~1 =15 ° . <P2=~ 5 ° )

t
'""
...s
=.
1, i
0,
X
5°
----,
-- _ . _- .
1
N
0

"IS>.
r 1
L - -155.75 ~I
J
Fi g. 5c-E DH (Enhance Diffuser Head er) Fi g. Sg-2-Stage sho rt diffu ser (N=48.S mm . $ 1=20°, $2=45° )

R~
1
R1 0
~ 3if n°
---,---=~'~-=-=i -,-
t! T --r

Itt'--- --
I I
N N
o X C>
'"
...s _
."..
""
1
I.
r:===.= ~1
155·75 .. I
J L 1 485_

Fi g. 5d- 2-St;Jge di ffu se r (N= ISS .7S mm. <Pl=300) fi g. Sh- 2-Stage sho rt curved diffu se r (optimum ~t'() m C lry)
10 INDIAN J. ENG . M A T ER. SC I. , FEBR U ARY 2003

T abl e I - Results for th e in ves tigat ed diffusers

N orm ali sed Pressure Diffuser Maldi stributi on Remark s

D<.:~cr i pt ion pressure recovery effec tiveness index at Di stan ce
loss (~) coe f f icient in % (£) (X), mm
(Cp )
Conv<.: J1li ona l diffu se r 0.25 0.70 73 M / x=o = 0.09 I ) Hi gh pressure loss due III rI (l\\
(Fig. Sa) M / x=~2FO. 5 I separati on
M / x=4 8.5 = 0.96 2) Flow co nsi derab ly IHln-uni f(lrJll
at th e substrate ent rance

Conve nti onal diffuser 0. 12S 0.63 SI M / x=o = 0.09 I ) O ve rall pressure loss reduced hy
w ith increased inlet M/ x=J3 =0. 14 4S.S% co mpared to <!> 46 Jllm in let dia
pipe di ;lI11cter M / ,=27.7 = 0.65 2) O ve rall increase in dillu ,er
( Fig. 5b) effec ti veness =! i% b<.:c a u ~e (lr
reduced A R
3) Improved ve loc it y profi le ,i nce
increased di ameter o f se pa rat ed jet
fl ow gases

Enhance diffuser 0. 14 0.8 16 S5 M / x=o= 0.053 I ) O vera ll press ure loss reduced by
7
header reference M / x=746=0.062 44 % co mpared to co nvc ntio nal
L=IS5.7S 111m M / x= I55.75 = 0.77 di ffu ser
( Fig. Sc) 2) O ve rall i ncr<.:asc in di llu,c r
effec ti ve ness =1 6% & M im pron:d by
20%
3) Improvement in th e pa ramc tcr, i,
at the cost o f larg e length wh ich I,
three tim es more than the co nvc ntion;Ji
length

T wo stage diffuser 0. 13 0.82 86 M x=,,= 0.055 I ) O ve rall pres!> ure loss r.:duL·cd hy
L= 155.75 mm M x=865=0.053 48% almos t equal to thc r.:,u ll
<I>~ =:lO ° M x=I55.7-' = 0.74 achi eved by increasing in k t pip.: dia.
( Fig.5d) in ca se o f conven tional ditl user
2) Results are be tt er th an ED t I
geo metry for th e same lengt h

T wo stage di f fu ser 0. 13 0. 827 S6.3 M / x=o = 0.05 I ) Sli ght impro ve me nt In pr.:" urL·
L=155.75 mm !
M x= 65=0. 17 loss and diffuser eiTec tiw nc,s
<1>2= ISO M i x= 155.7.' = 1.03 2) On oth er , ide il o" b.:comc,
(Fig. 5e) hi ghl y non un i for m heca use or ':;Irl y
fl ow separati on

Th ro ugh di Ilu ser 0.25 0.7 73 M x=u= 0.OS5 I) For th e sam.: lengt h thro ugh
L=155.75 mm M .' =(,~ .3 =0. I 7 dirfu sion has gi ven sam e pre ssur.: Ill"
<I>~ = 10. 1')0 M x= I55.7-' = 0.7 as th at of in the conventi onal cl..:sig n
(Fig. Se sam e length 2) But M i s impwved by 27'1t
single stage) because o f shall ow and , t.:ad y
di ffu sion

T wo stage short 0.2 0.74 77 M x=o = 0.08 I ) Pressure loss i mprovecl by 20'1t
di llusc r M x=n.4 = 0.172 2) Maldistributi on indc x I,
L=4)).S mm M x=4 8.5 = I. I increased by 14.S% beca use o f suddcn
o and steep dirfusion and he nce: la rge
<JlI = I S
<1>2=-+50 scale separati on in lat er part
( Fi g. Sf)
Two stage short O.OS 0.85 89.6 M / x=o= 0. 127 I) Pressure loss reduc.:d by hX'1t
di ffuser M / x=23FO.27 w hi Ie di ffu ser efTec ti ve neSS ;Ibu
L=-+ X. 5 mm I
M x=4 85 = I . I i ncreased by 22 '11: w hich is bcs t anl<1I1!,!
<I>! =200 above di sc ussed geome tri es
1»2=-+5 0 2) But M is al so i ncrea sed by 1-+.:)',;
( Fi,!!.5g) w hi ch is not acce ptable
 KULKARNI el (fl.: OPTIMUM DIFFUSER GEOMETRY FOR THE AUTOMOTIVE CATALYTIC CONVE RTER II

Table I- Results for the ill\ esti ga ted diffusers---Collld.

Normalised Pressure Diffuser Maldi stributi on Rem arks

Description pressure recovery effectivene~s index at Di stance
loss (~) coefficient in % (E) (X), mm
(Cp )
Two stage short curved 0.094 0.86 89 M 1x=o = 0.09 I) Press ure loss decre:.Jsed by 62 'lr
diffuser M 1x=l7= 0.12 2) Diffuser effecti veness increasc:d
L=48.S mm M 1.'=48.5 = 0. 85 by 22 %
<1>1 =17° 3) Length is al so short. Hence
(Fig.S h) optimum geometry

Twu stage short curved 0.72 0.23 24 M x=o =0.09 I) With incre:.Jse in tempc: r:i1ure
diffu ser Air M x=17 = 0.22 from 20°C to 800°C pressure loss
temperature 800°C M .,=48.5 = 0.97 increased by factor of 8
R" = 18,000 2) CI' & E are decreased by factor of
p = 0.34 kg/m' 4.
v=S.R2x 105 N s lll/~g
(Fig.Sh)
Two stage short c ur v~d 0.12 0.82 86. 1 M 1x=u = 0.09 I) With non uniform inlet vc:locil l'
diffuser non uniform M 1x= 17 = 0.346 profile a little adverse e ffect obsC:J'l n l
inlet veloc ity protile M 1x=48.5 = 1,028 on press ure loss and Cp and E
(Fig.Sh) 2) Maldi stributi on index IS
increased by 2 1%

se lected to study the effect of the geometry on the where, Crr = I - I/AI/
diffuser performance having geometrical dimension
identical to the EDH geometry, The last three (iv) Maldi stribution function
investigated diffu sers [diffusers (vi), (vii) and (viii)]
had shorter length but have same inlet and exit ... (22 )
dimensions s. These diffusers are investigated to study
the effect of length , as this is a major constraint in the From the results given in Tabl e I, it is see n thal for
installation of a catalytic c(lnverter. conventional diffu sers, the press ure loss is high bUI
increasing the inlet diameter and reducin g th e diffuser
Results and DisclIssion half angle for same length , press ure loss reduces by
The results for all th e investi gated diffusers are 49 % and the effectiveness increases by 11 0/0 ,
tabulated in Table I. For comparison, the following For EDH, the pressure loss reduces by -+4(1r .
parameters hav e b·~e n ev~luated: diffuser effectiveness increases by 16% and
maldistribution index improves by 20% compared lo
(i) Normalize'd press ure loss
conventional diffuser but at the expense of increased
length. For improved EDH geometries, th ere is
... (19) marginal improvement in pressure loss and diffu ser
effectiveness.
For modified conventional geometries designaled
(i i) Press urf r·~cove ry C'oefficitnt
as short di ["users, the press ure loss . di ffu se r
P.'i2 - P SI
effectiveness and maldistribution function have been
... (20) compared with the conventional diffuser. It is seen
h PUl 2
that short diffu ser (Fig 5g) gives th e minillluill
pressure loss but the maldistribution index is nol
(i i i) Diffu se r effecti veness
acceptable. The short diffuser geo metry gi ven in Fig
5h gives a slightly higher pressure loss but has an
Cp
E = --------'-------- .. . (21) improved maldi stribution index. To clearly bring oul
Ideal Pressure Recovery(C rr ) the reasons for improvement, the velocity distributi on
 12 IN DI AN J. ENG. M A T ER. SC I. , FEBR UA RY 2003

l 'OO ~ ' ·00

~
0.80 - cr: o·so
"lr
-:::::--
~ I cr:
I
0: cr: 0.60
--: 0.60 ...:
In III
'0 ""0

° a 0. 4 0
u
~ 0. 40 ~ ..
d
~

u
~ <jJ 1

I
III

~ =-==:
~

0 0·20
°
~ 0·20 E
~

o 0

~
z z
==±:::
O~--~--~~
=--
~~--~~~ °0 10
U
20 30
veLo(; ty m/s
40 50
- 40 -20 0 20
~At en trance :x=O
u ve Lo( i t y m/s ~ At exit :x=~8 .5mm
- - At ent r ance; x ~ Omrn
~ At inte rmediate locat ;on:x =1 7 . 6
~At exil:x: ~ 8.5mm -------. At inte rmediate locatien :,,32 ·3
........--o--t. Al intermediate l ocatio n ~x,:l,O
~ At i n t e rmediat e loca t ion:
x ;22.~ mm

Fig. 6a- Ve loc ity versus norm al i zed radial di stance for Fig. 6b- Ve loci ty ve rsus JloriKtiizcd radia l di';taJlce for 2 - ~ la gc
conveJltio Jl al diffuse r IFig. 5al short-c urved di rfuse r I op ti IlIU Ill d i rfu ser Fig. 511 I

in the co nvent io nal diffuse r and th e modi fied short
diffuse r are give n in Figs 6a and 6b. It is seen th at
the re is marked improve ment in th e ve loc ity within
th e diffuser, whi ch leads to th e im proved overall
performa nce of th e short diffu ser.
T he perform ance of th e diffuser (Fi g. Sh) ide nrifi ed
as the op timum di ffuse r was in ves ti gated fo r
inc reased inlet temperature and non-unifo rm inl et
ve locity di stri buti on. The fl ow of hot gases enters th e
ca talytic co nverter at hi gher temperatures and as th e
catalyt ic co nverter is pl aced dow nstrea m of 90° bend ,
the ve loc ity profil e at th e inl et header of th e co nverter
is highl y skewed with the peak ve loc ity shifted from
cen ter. Thi s veloci ty pro fil e has been sim ulated and
has been identified as no n-unifo rm ve locity pro fil e.
For inc reased inl et tem perature fro m 20 0 e to 800 o e,
p re~s ure loss in creased by a fac to r of 8 whereas
recove ry coeffi cient and effec ti ve ness decreased by
on ly a facto r of 4 . For no n-uni fo rm veloc ity profil e,
there is a sli ght adverse effec t o n pressure loss,
press ure recovery and diffuser effecti ve ness but
sig ni ficant effec t is see n on maldistributi on index
(Tab le I).
Conc lusions
Alt ho ugh th e fl ow in the catalyti c conve rter is
three-d imensio nal, two-di Illensio nal ax isy mmetri c
co mput ati o nal ana lys is gives fai rl y accu rate res ult s
and hence can be used fo r opt imiz in g the design.
Gradu al diffusio n in nu mber of stages irnpm ves
press ure coeffi cient, di ffuser effec ti veness <lnei
maldi stri buti on index.
Prov isio n of curva ture at th e interfaces or suddcn
changes of cross sec ti o na l area is useful as it delay\
the fl ow separati o n whi ch oth erwise takes plaCe at the
sharp edge itself. The optimu m design of the diffu ser
is the o ne hav ing an intermedi ale diffuse r half angle
for most part of its length and th en g r:.ld ual bu t stee per
d iffus ion in th e later part along a smoo th "'<III
curvature.(Fi g. Sh)
At hi gher tempe ratures, the optimum geometry
(Fig. Sh) is observed to give bett er res ult s than all Y
oth er geo metry at th e same co nditio ns. The 11011 -
uni fo rmit y in th e ve locity pro fil e at the diffuser inlet
increases th e maldi stributi o n index at the di ffuscr exit
and norm ali zed press ure loss increases by O.OJ) while
with sa me ve loc ity profil e it increased by (H)6 for
co nve nti o nal diffu ser.
Nomenclature
AR = Area ra ti o
Cw Ct. C 2 = Turbu len t l110ciel cun stalll s
Cp = Pressure r<!covery coe f fJcient
C= Ra te of prod uct io Jl of turbuielll ~ i lJc:til" ellcrgy
k'-= T urbuk Jlce k inetic enc:rgy. -JlJ
 KULKAR NI I'I al. : OPT IMUM DIFFUSER GEOM ETRY FOR THE AUTOMOTIV E C ATALYTI C CONVERT ER 1:\

M= Maldi stributi o n fu ncti o n 2 "Dani e l W We ndl and . Ph il lip L Sorre ll & John E Krcuchcr.
1\= Static pressure, N/m2 SAE PI/bl, (9 12372 ) 1004- 101 6.
PT = Total or stagnation press ure, N/m 2 3 Kim J Y, Lai M C, C heng C Y. Li p, Chui G & l'<l kko J n.
S{/ = Source terms of ve locity SAE TraIlS . 100 ( 199 1) 241 -25 0.

Turbule nt flu x 4 Kim J Y, Lai M C, Li P & Chui G K. T m lls ASMI::. 117

qo =
( 1995) 362 -368.
Stress tcnso r, N/m2 5 Day J, Paul LouI s S & Sacha Jr. , The des ign of <luI OnHlIi\ c
catal yst support s for imp roved press ure drop and co nl'l'i", illil
Ve loci ty Vector. m/sec effici ency, SA E Tech Paper Ser ies. SA E Tm lls S('(".J. ( 109 I ).
Avc rage velocit y at inl et, m/sec 105- 11 4.
11 1 = Fluctuatin g component s of ve loci ty. m/sec 6 Mart y A Barri s. Deve lopment o f d iese l ex hau st c;lta l) lil'
V l\g = Average ve loc it y at an y cross-secti on, m/sec converter mufflers, SA E Tech Seri no Sec 6, ( 1092).507-520.
Vpeal = Ma ximum velocity at any cross-section , m/sec
7 Danie l W Wend land , John E Kre ucher & Eric Andcr'l/n.
X= Cartesian co-o rd in ates
Redu c ing catal yti c co nve rt er press ure loss. AUI<)nHH i,,'
Enginee rin g, SAE PI/hI, (Jun c 1996) , 69 -74.
Creek lellers
8 Sov ran Gino & Kl o mp E 0 , Optimu m geu mclric ' fllr
001.1 = Proj ecti on of the base vec tors of th e general co-
ord in ates sys tem on to the cart esian base vectors
rcctilinear diffu sers, Proc FII/id Mec/ulllif's or
/111('1"11 111
Flows, edited by G ino Sovran, Warre n. Mi chi ga n (Ebc\'icr
L1 Publ ishing Co mpany, New York ) 1965 . 107-3 18.
d ifTerential operat or involving th e Jacobian of co-
9 Agrawal D 1', Singh S N & Moh:111 R .. Del'el oj!1I1I'1I1 01 II
COlilpliler Cod e fo r Flow Sillllll(l/ io ll ill SII IIIII GilI' TI/rh i ll ('
ordinate transformati o n
COII/POlIl'llIS. Intern al Hepor! of AR & 013. Mec hanical
E= Turbule nce Di ssipation rate, N m2/kg
Eng ineering Departme nt. lI T Delhi . Febl"l1ary 1904.
(I) = Sca la r vari able ( k. £. P . .... )
10 De mird zic I. A Fillil e VOll/lll e Method Jil r CllllIPllldli,J1/ oj
$, = Fluctu atin g co mponents of ve loc it y, m/sec
Fillid FlolI' i!l COlllplex Ceolllel rics. Ph . O. Thl''' ' .
p= Lamin ar viscos it y, Ns/ m2 Departme nt of Mec hani ca l Enginee rin g. Im pe ri al C()lk~l' u l
~l l = Turbule nt viscos it y. Ns/m2 Sc ience, Tec hn o logy & Med ic ine. Ulli ve rsity oj" Lond ll il.
0 1.· 0 ,> = Co nstants in Turbu le nt Mode l 1982 .
1',, = Turbul ent difTusivit y II L:wndcr B E&. Spalding f) B. COlli/JIll Me l h. /\ /J/ II M ('..!,
~= Norm ali zed loss coe ffi c ient Ell g, 3 ( 1974) 269-289.
12 Gos man A 0 & Peri c M. User 1I 1(111 11U! .fi}/" Ihe 'r.,\ STCST
SI/ bsc ripl s COli/pliler package: T lVu- d illl ell sioll(ll .fIr!l\' ill C(JIlI/lle.\"
1= Inlct. co nditi on geolll elries: C r id gell eralioll . j/o l1' p r ediCl ioll (I(/(I gmIJ/II("(/1
2= Out let or ex it co nditi on p r ediclioll of n:SIlIIS, Im pe ria l co llege of Sc ie nce: ;lIld
I • .I = 1,2,3 Tec hn ology. Londo il .
Il StOlle, H L, SIAM J N lllll er A llal . ( 1965) 520-5YJ.
References 14 Habib M A & White law J H, NIIIIII'/" H ,,{(/ Tmll .,!i' I". 5 ( 19)-1 : I

Lal A K. /Ild i ll il J Ell vi roll Pro leel. 16 ( I) ( 1996) 1-5. 145 -164.