Chapter 10: Modeling Flow Through Porous MediaThis tutorial is divided into the following sections:10.1. Introduction10.2. Prerequisites10.3. Problem Description10.4. Setup and Solution10.5. Summary10.6. Further Improvements10.1. IntroductionMany industrial applications such as filters, catalyst beds and packing, involve modeling the flow throughporous media. This tutorial illustrates how to set up and solve a problem involving gas flow throughporous media.The industrial problem solved here involves gas flow through a catalytic converter. Catalytic convertersare commonly used to purify emissions from gasoline and diesel engines by converting environmentallyhazardous exhaust emissions to acceptable substances. Examples of such emissions include carbonmonoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and unburned hydrocarbon fuels.These exhaust gas emissionsare forced through a substrate, which is a ceramic structure coated with a metal catalyst such as platinumor palladium.The nature of the exhaust gas flow is a very important factor in determining the performance of thecatalytic converter. Of particular importance is the pressure gradient and velocity distribution throughthe substrate. Hence CFD analysis is used to design efficient catalytic converters. By modeling the exhaustgas flow, the pressure drop and the uniformity of flow through the substrate can be determined. Inthis tutorial, ANSYS FLUENT is used to model the flow of nitrogen gas through a catalytic convertergeometry, so that the flow field structure may be analyzed.This tutorial demonstrates how to do the following:•Set up a porous zone for the substrate with appropriate resistances.•Calculate a solution for gas flow through the catalytic converter using the pressure-based solver...
