Analysis of Tribological Performance of Piston Ring Lubrication

In this paper a mixed lubrication model considering lubricant supply conditions on cylinder bore has been developed for the piston ring lubrication. The numerical procedures of both fully flooded and starved lubrication were included in the model. The lubrication equations and boundary conditions at the end of strokes were discussed in detail. The effects of piston ring design parameters, such as ring face profile and ring tension, on oil film thickness, friction force and power loss under fully flooded and starved lubrication conditions due to available lubricant supply on cylinder bore were studied. The simulation results show that the oil available in the inlet region of the oil film is important to the piston ring friction power loss. With different ring face crown heights and tensions, the changes of oil film thickness and friction force were apparent under fully flooded lubrication, but almost no changes were found under starved lubrication except at the end of a stroke. In addition, the oil film thickness and friction force were affected evidently by the ring face profile offsets under both fully flooded and starved lubrication conditions, and the offset towards the combustion chamber made a large contribution to forming thicker oil film during the expansion stroke. So under different lubricant supply conditions on the cylinder bore, the ring profile and tension need to be adjusted to reduce the friction and power loss. Moreover, the effects of lubricant viscosity, surface composite roughness, and engine operating speed on friction force and power loss were also discussed.