The project involved the development of crossfire, a software library, which facilitates the coupling of OpenFOAM with other CAE tools. In this case OpenFOAM was coupled with exothermia suite (formerly axisuite) in order to model for exhaust aftertreatment systems. Specifically the following functionalities were implemented:

• Preprocessing
  • 3d mesh generation of exhaust system using simple geometrical parameters for standard components (cylindrical substrates, axisymmetric cones, curved or straight cylindrical pipes)
  • Definition of physicochemical model and numerical method parameters in OpenFOAM files
• Transient simulation with a customized OpenFOAM solver taking into account
  • momentum balance using an equivalent porous medium for the substrates (flow-through or wall-flow)
  • energy balance with pipe heat losses and source terms for the convection and chemical reactions in the substrates
  • mass balances of gaseous and solid species (soot and ash) with source terms for chemical reactions, absorption and filtration in the monoliths
• Post-processing
  • Reading and analysis of OpenFOAM results

The project was funded by Exothermia SA. The development of the library and the management of the project was undertaken by Onoufrios Haralampous with the assistance of Dimitrios Mastellos. On behalf of Exothermia SA, Dr Theodoros Atmakidis was responsible for the collaboration and integration in exothermia suite.