| Summary: | The motivation behind this investigation was the need to further the understanding of the gas dynamic behaviour of automotive catalysts under pulsating flow conditions, with a view to improving the ease and accuracy of simulating engine-catalyst systems. A VIRTUAL 4-STROKE model representative of a current-generation engine-catalyst system was developed and simulated over a range of operating conditions. The capability . of this model to simulate a current-generation engine-catalyst system model was evaluated against measured results obtained during dynamometer experiments. A separate simulation program based on the catalyst model incorporated in VIRTUAL 4STROKE was also developed so that tests in which catalyst substrates were subjected to individual blowdown pulses could be simulated, thus allowing the fundamental elements of this catalyst model to be assessed in relative isolation from the complex superposition effects encountered on a running engine. Results from this simulation program was compared against measured results obtained during experiments on the QUB Single Shot Rig. In this way, the merits and demerits of the catalyst element of the VIRTUAL 4STROKE model were assessed at a fundamental level, as well as in the context of a running engine. While measured-simulated correlations were good, some possible improvements to both the model and the experimental procedure were identified.
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