The inlet geometry of an exhaust system is of critical importance for its performance during cold start . Asymmetrical inlet pipes and cones are often used upstream of close-coupled catalytic converters. As a result, flow and temperature non-uniformities arise during transient conditions, such as the cold start of the engine. A fast and and complete heat-up of the catalytic converter is critical during this period to facilitate activation of chemical reactions and emission control. Within this project a series of inlet geometries where simulated under transient conditions to assess the effects of asymmetric features. The simulations were performed with exothermia suite, which integrates Crossfire, a library for 3d mesh generation and OpenFOAM interface developed by the University of Thessaly.

The project was assigned to the University of Thessaly and funded by Exothermia SA.