Fouling evolution on ribbed surfaces under EGR dry soot conditions: Experimental measurements and 3D model validation

Abstract

This study presents the development of an experimental procedure to validate a novel computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model that was presented in a previous study. This model reproduces the fouling phenomenon caused by soot particles inside exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) coolers. The aim of this study is to verify the model results by using a numerical tool to improve the study of deposits created inside EGR coolers. By employing an experimental layout that emulates dry soot fouling, the deposit formation and evolution are recreated inside three probes designed ad hoc to enable local thickness measurements. An optical profiler is used to determine the topography of the soot deposit, thereby circumventing destructive tests. A sequential validation process is conducted by comparing the actual fouling profiles and the CFD results at different instants of the test. The results obtained under the studied conditions reveal that on average, 73.4% of the area analysed exhibits a low level of relative error. This verifies that the proposed model and its numerical implementation constitute a valuable tool for studying the performance of heat exchangers exposed to fouling.