PRODUCT

DESIGN ON
AN
AUTOMOTIV
E MUFFLER

KARIMILLI MADHU

M.Tech 1-2
(MCDG)
319207033006
 PRODUCT DESIGN ON AN AUTOMOTIVE MUFFLER

INTRODUCTION TO AN AUTOMOTIVE MUFFLER:

The sole purpose of an automotive muffler is to reduce engine noise emission. If you
have ever heard a car running without a muffler you will have an appreciation for the
significant difference in noise level a muffler can make. If vehicles did not have a muffler there
would be an unbearable amount of engine exhaust noise in our environment. Noise is defined
as unwanted sound. Sound is a pressure wave formed from pulses of alternating high and low
pressure air. In an automotive engine, pressure waves are generated when the exhaust valve
repeatedly opens and lets high-pressure gas into the exhaust system. These pressure pulses are
the sound we hear. As the engine rpm increases so do the pressure fluctuations and therefore
the sound emitted is of a higher frequency. All noise emitted by an automobile does not come
from the exhaust system. Other contributors to vehicle noise emission include intake noise,
mechanical noise and vibration induced noise from the engine body and transmission. The
automotive muffler has to be able to allow the passage of exhaust gasses whilst restricting the
transmission of sound.
DESIGN METHODOLOGY:

The properly designed muffler for any particular application should satisfy the often –
conflicting demands of at least five criteria simultaneously

 The acoustic criterion, which specifies the minimum noise reduction, required from the
muffler as a function of frequency. The operating conditions must be known because
large steady- flow velocities or large alternating velocities (high sound pressure levels)
may alter its acoustic performance.
 The aerodynamic criterion which specifies the maximum acceptable average pressure
drop through the muffler at a given temperature and mass flow.
 The geometrical criterion, which specifies the maximum allowable volume and
restrictions on shape.
 The mechanical criterion, which may specify materials from which it is durable and
requires little maintains.
 The economical criterion is vital in the marketplace.

The Muffler Design methodology for a given engine involves 7 steps. Following are the broad
steps followed to arrive at a good design of muffler making use of practical experimental data
figure 1.
Figure 1. Approach paper- design methodology for muffler
STEP 1: BENCHMARKING

The first step in any design and development activity is to set a target by doing benchmarking
exercise of same kind of models. The same will be applicable for the silencer here, to set a
target in terms of transmission loss of same engine power models of competitor benchmarking
vehicles. Based on the provided engine input data and bench mark study target for back
pressure and noise are range decided.

As per design methodology we benchmarked same kind of engine models to set the target of
transmission loss of muffler.

Engine data: Bore (D) = 80 mm Stroke (L) = 98 mm No. Cylinders (n) = 3 Engine power
(P) = 65 hp Max. RPM (N) = 3500 rpm Allowable back pressure for muffler = 10 in H2O
Transmission Loss Noise target (muffler) = 30 Db.

STEP 2: TARGET FREQUENCIES

After benchmarking exercise, one needs to calculate the target frequencies to give more
concentration of higher transmission loss. For calculating the target frequencies engine max
power rpm is required and calculation follows, Theoretical Computation: The exhaust tones are
calculated using the following.

Formulae:

CFR = Engine Speed in RPM/60 …. For a two stroke engine (1)

= Engine Speed in RPM/120 ….For a four-stroke engine (2)

EFR = n X (CFR), (3)

To find fundamental frequency

Cylinder Firing Rate: CFR to be calculated as per the equation i.e 29.17 Hz

Engine firing rate EFR to be calculated as per the equation –3, i.e 87.50 Hz.

STEP 3: MUFFLER VOLUME CALCULATION

Based on the experience and theory of acoustics for muffler design for various engines, the
following equation works well.

Volume of the muffler (Vm):

Now the designer needs to check packaging space that can be made available for the muffler.

Silencer volume: Volume of silencer must be at least 12 to 25 times the volume considered.
Volume can be adjusted depending on the space constraint.

Factor consider is = 16

STEP 4: INTERNAL CONFIGURATION AND CONCEPT DESIGN

Based on the benchmarking transmission loss and the target frequencies, designer draws few
concepts of internal configuration that meets the packaging dimension within the volume
mentioned above.

Each concept and internal configuration is then formulated to the best possible configuration
so as to achieve best acoustic performance and best (i.e. least) backpressure.

Perforations: Perforated pipe forms an important acoustic element of muffler, which is tuned in
line with the problematic frequencies identified in step 2.

The diameter of the hole to be drilled / punched on the pipe is calculated by a thumb rule as
given below:
Lesser the Aop better the transmission loss and better the acoustic performance.

At this stage, the diameter of the hole to be drilled, pitch, number of holes per row, number of
rows for each pattern of holes is frozen and hence, the distance at which perforation starts and
at which the perforation ends also gets frozen. Thus, the design of the perforated tube for
individual hole patterns is finalized. Based on this best concepts are designed and carry forward
for virtual simulations.

 Design inputs arrived from theory of acoustics used to muffler design

 Extended inlet and outlet will be minimum 60 to 70 mm for better attenuation results
 Inlet and outlet are introduced 180 deg reversal to increase the acoustic performance
 From benchmark and theory 3 expansions chamber good for noise target
 Hole perforations choose to match frequency that needs to be killed based on CFR and
EFR calculations
 la and lb is 15 to 20 mm as per theory of acoustic for good acoustic performance
  Primary for choosing diameter of hole first four CFR and EFR should be used

We have made design of concept 0A, 0B, and 0C with double expansion chamber. Expansion
chambers are made of unequal length in two parts. Elliptical chamber is used as we have
advantage of space and better attenuation. To get more attenuation effect inlet and outlet tubes
are extended in the chamber. [10, 11]

STEP 5: VIRTUAL SIMULATION

Based on above mentioned approach, different concepts will be arrived with optimum
combinations of different elements inside volume of the silencer. Finalised concepts will be
verified virtually using CAE simulation software’s towards the achievement of transmission
loss and back pressure.

All three concept of muffler designed as per above steps are tested for flow analysis using CFD
simulation tool.
Assumption and boundary conditions:

 Flow is considered to be steady

 Air is considered as the fluid for computations
 Flow considered as Turbulent ( K-εModel)
 Inlet considered as Mass flow boundary condition in 320 Kg/hr
 Inlet Temperature of fluid in 520 °C
 Outlet considered as pressure outlet opened to atmosphere.

Observations:

Figure 2, 3, 4 show flow through the concept 0A, 0B and 0C muffler. The CFD result shows
that the Concept 0A is good for back pressure as provide less back pressure compare to concept
muffler 0B and 0C.

CFD ANALYSIS:

When steady air flow passes through mufflers, there will have steady pressure drop which is
related to flow and geometry of air passages. Pressure drop in an exhaust muffler plays an
important role for the design and development of mufflers.Predication of pressure drop will be
very useful for the design and development of muffler. To predict the pressure drop associated
with the steady flow through the muffler CFD has developed over the last two decades. So the
flow prediction can be made reliable.

The mean flow performance of the three mufflers considered in the acoustic analysis has been
assessed. Transmission loss measured for 1, 2, 3, and 4th as per engine firing order calculated
above step 2. Assumption and boundary conditions

 Sound termination is anechoic

 Perforate holes are simulated using Sullivan-Crocker and Mechel’s relation
 Linear steps for analysis is 10 Hz in the frequency range of 10-2000 Hz
 Perforate holes with zigzag pattern are modeled as parallel pattern of holes
 Embossing on inlet and outlet end cover of muffler is neglected

Observations:

As per virtual loss TL results concept 0A is having better transmission loss compared to
Concept 0B and 0C at critical frequencies (20-500 Hz or for initial four frequencies) as per
figure 05 After completion of simulation we selected the best three concepts (with minimum
back pressure and higher transmission loss) taken forward for the prototype manufacturing to
experimental validations of the transmission loss and back pressure.
STEP 6: PROTOTYPE MANUFACTURING

All the above stages combined with the packaging of the engine evolve the design of the
prototype muffler andthose; can be taken up for manufacturing.

Following are some of the important manufacturing considerations summarized based on

experience:

 There should not be any leakage of gas from one chamber to another.
 Full welding is better than stitch welding.
 Acoustic performance of extruded tubes with perforations is better than the tubes that are
made out ofperforated and welded sheets.
 CEW or ERW tubes are the common materials used.
 Either of Crimping or full welding of jacket can be used.
 Either of flanged or flared tubes can be used as end connections of the muffler. However,
with leakagepoint of view, flanged connections are better. But at the same
However, with leakage point of view, flanged connections are better. But at the same time, this
adds to theweight and cost of the exhaust system. Bearing all above in mind, a physical
prototype
is made in such a way that there will not be any tooling investment for the prototype.

STEP 7: EXPERIMENTAL TESTING AND DESIGN FINALIZATION

The experimental determination of backpressure on engine and transmission loss on two source
method for different concepts of verified. The prototypes of all concepts that are made at the
above step are tested for the transmission loss to verify the target value.

The TL is the difference in sound power level between the incident wave entering and
transmitted wave exciting muffler when the muffler termination is anechoic, TL is a property of
the muffler only. In this work an attempt has been made to experimentally measure
transmission loss by actually using the experimental set-up. Two source techniques gives good
results for the measurement of transmission loss at the different sound frequencies. Also
absence of anechoic termination, the decomposition method is found to ineffective. Therefore
we will be using two source methods in calculating transmission loss.

TL values obtained from these simulations are compared with experiments. At the same time if
performance of muffler is found to be satisfactory as per engine noise requirement, then the
above captured data becomes the input for further backpressure reduction. The iteration is
continued usually 2 to 3 times to achieve an optimum balance between noise requirement and
target of least backpressure and best fuel efficiency.
OBSERVATIONS:

As per figure 7 of two source measurements of TL concept 0A is having better transmission

loss compared to concept 0B and 0C at critical frequencies (20-500 Hz).

Comparing virtual acoustic results as per figure 5 and experimental results as per figure 7 of TL
concept 0A is killing initial four noise frequencies.

The dotted vertical lines represent the CFR values and the plot explains that the TL curve of the
proposed concept kills the earlier mentioned vertical peaks. The obtained result using
experimental setup compared with the theoretical result and we find out best concept for noise.
Also for back pressure CFD results are compared with engine back pressure results. Based on
this compression one concept selected, which 0A best for required back pressure and noise
(TL).

This design methodology will help designers in understanding the importance of each
step of designing in detail from concept level to validation level. This approach serves the
purpose of reducing the number of iterations, product development time and cost with better
design.

Although the practical approach has become an important tool in making muffler design more
of art than a science, the need for design verification will always be necessary at end of each
step.