Optimizing the back-pressure of automotive muffler for better

efficiency
Keywords: Muffler, Back-pressure, CFD, acoustics

To improve the performance characteristics of mufflers we use various acoustic elements namely
sudden expansion or contraction, perforated pipes and baffles, flow reversing chambers etc.
Though introduction of such elements helps to reduce the noise but the elements exert substantial
back-pressure on the pistons of reciprocating engines. Back-pressure is defined as the difference
between the mean exhaust pressure and the ambient pressure and is caused by the drop in
stagnation pressure (total pressure) across various perforated elements and sudden area changes.
Increase in back-pressure leads to decrease in thermodynamic efficiency and affects the net
power available. Though this induced back-pressure does not pose a big problem for luxury
automobiles but for economy vehicles, where the specific fuel consumption is a major criterion
the minimization of back-pressure is important. While designing mufflers keeping the minimal
back-pressure should be taken care. Hence predicting the back-pressure analytically
(experimentally & using CFD tools like Open FOAM/Ansys-Fluent) is as important as acoustical
performance. My aim of the research is to modify the flow-acoustic design of currently available
muffler with better performance characteristics which will definitely help in improving
efficiency of automobiles without affecting its acoustical performance.