• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.1161-1170
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• 2011

This paper presents a solution to the inverse problem for the service boundary conditions of thermal-flow and structure analysis in a catalyst substrate. The exhaust-gas purification efficiency of a catalyst substrate is influenced by the shape parameter, catalyst ingredients and so on and is estimated by the thermal flow uniformity. The formulations of the inverse problem of obtaining the thermal-flow parameters (inlet temperature, velocity, heat of reaction, convective heat-transfer coefficient) and the direct problem of estimating from a given outlet temperature distribution are described. An experiment was designed and the response-surface optimization technique was used to solve the proposed inverse problem. The temperature distribution of the catalyst substrate was obtained by thermal-flow analysis for the predicted thermal-flow parameters. The thermal stress and durability assessments for the catalyst substrate were performed on the basis of this temperature distribution. The efficiency and accuracy of the inverse approach have been demonstrated through the achievement of good agreement between the thermal-flow response surface model and the results of experimental vehicle tests.