Mehdi Abarham

Numerical Modeling and Experimental Investigations of EGR Cooler Fouling in a Diesel Engine

EGR coolers are mainly used on diesel engines to reduce intake charge temperature and thus reduce emissions of NOx and PM. Soot and hydrocarbon deposition in the EGR cooler reduces heat transfer efficiency of the cooler and increases emissions and pressure drop across the cooler. They may also be acidic and corrosive. Fouling has been always treated as an approximate factor in heat exchanger designs and it has not been modeled in detail. The aim of this paper is to look into fouling formation in an EGR cooler of a diesel engine. A 1-D model is developed to predict and calculate EGR cooler fouling amount and distribution across a concentric tube heat exchanger with a constant wall temperature. The model is compared to an experiment that is designed for correlation of the model. Effectiveness, mass deposition, and pressure drop are the parameters that have been compared. The results of the model are in a good agreement with the experimental data.

An Analytical Study of Thermophoretic Particulate Deposition in Turbulent Pipe Flows

The presence of a cold surface in non-isothermal pipe flows conveying submicron particles causes thermophoretic particulate deposition. In this study, an analytical method is developed to estimate thermophoretic particulate deposition efficiency and its effect on overall heat transfer coefficient of pipe flows in transition and turbulent flow regimes. The proposed analytical solution has been validated against experiments conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Exhaust gas carrying submicron soot particles was passed through pipes with a constant wall temperature and various designed boundary conditions to correlate transition and turbulent flow regimes. Prediction of the reduction in heat transfer coefficient and particulate mass deposited has been compared with experiments. The results of the analytical method are in a reasonably good agreement with experiments.

Effect of Volatiles on Soot Based Deposit Layers

The implementation of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) coolers has recently been a widespread methodology for engine in-cylinder NOX reduction. A common problem with the use of EGR coolers is the tendency for a deposit, or fouling layer to form through thermophoresis. These deposit layers consist of soot and volatiles and reduce the effectiveness of heat exchangers at decreasing exhaust gas outlet temperatures, subsequently increasing engine out NOX emission.This paper presents results from a novel visualization rig that allows for the development of a deposit layer while providing optical and infrared access. A 24-hour, 379 micron thick deposit layer was developed and characterized with an optical microscope, an infrared camera, and a thermogravimetric analyzer. The in-situ thermal conductivity of the deposit layer was calculated to be 0.047 W/mK. Volatiles from the layer were then evaporated off and the layer reanalyzed. Results suggest that volatile bake-out can significantly alter the thermo-physical properties of the deposit layer and hypotheses are presented as to how.Copyright

Large Particles in Modern Diesel Engine Exhaust

During research on diesel engine EGR cooler fouling a test stand giving visual access to the building deposit layer has been developed. Initial experiments reveal the presence of large particles in the exhaust. While conventional wisdom is that diesel particulates typically have log-normal size distributions ranging approximately 10–200 nm, the tests reported here observe small numbers of particles with sizes on the order of tens of μm. Such particles are not generally reported in the literature because exhaust particle sizing instruments typically have inertial separators to remove particles larger than ∼1 μm in order to avoid fouling of the nanoparticle measurement system.The test stand provides exhaust or heated air flow over a cooled surface with Reynolds number, pressure, and surface temperature typical of an EGR cooler. A window allows observation using a digital microscope camera. Starting from a clean surface, a rapid build of a deposit layer is observed. A few large particles are observed. These may land on the surface and remain for long times, although occasionally a particle blows away.In order to study these particles further, an exhaust sample was passed over a fiberglass filter, and the resulting filtered particles were analyzed. Samples were taken at the engine EGR passage, and also in the test stand tubing just before the visualization fixture. The resulting images indicate that the particles are not artifacts of the test system, but rather are present in engine exhaust.MATLAB routines were developed to analyze the filter images taken on the microscope camera. Particles were identified, counted, and sized by the software.It is not possible to take isokinetic samples and give quantitative measurement of the number and size distribution of the particles because the particles are large enough that inertial and gravitational effects will cause them to at least partially settle out of the flows. Nonetheless, the presence of particles tens of μm is documented.Such particles are probably the result of in-cylinder and exhaust pipe deposits flaking. While these larger particles would be captured by the diesel particulate filter (DPF), they can affect intake and exhaust valve seating, EGR cooler fouling, EGR valve sealing, and other factors.Copyright

Analytical and Numerical Study of the Evaporation of a Single Fuel Droplet With a Vaporized Fuel Background

A simplified set of equations is examined for the problem of droplet evaporation. The equations employ the Clausius-Clapeyron boundary condition for the surface fuel-vapor condensation, which is responsible for numerous interesting mathematical behaviors, including the existence of an initial condensation stage followed by the classical d2 -evaporation stage. Numerical methods of analysis are used, in conjunction with asymptotic analysis of each stage: (I) condensation; (II) transition; (III) evaporation. Comparisons are made with previous experiments. A brief discussion is provided of effective droplet evaporation in partial condensation environments.Copyright