Detailed analysis of piston secondary motion and tribological performance

This article presents a detailed analytical model to evaluate piston skirt tribology under hydrodynamic lubrication. The contribution of the piston ring pack lubrication has been taken into account to study piston secondary motion and tribological performance. A system of nonlinear equations comprising Reynolds equation and force equilibrium is solved to calculate piston ring pack friction force and its moment about wrist pin axis. Instantaneous minimum oil film thickness at piston ring/liner interface has been estimated considering different boundary conditions: full Sommerfeld, oil separation, and Reynolds cavitation and reformation. The ring pack model has capability to be used for a wide range of ring face profiles under boundary and hydrodynamic lubrication. Piston secondary motion is evaluated using lubrication theory and equilibrium of forces and moments, to examine the effect of wrist pin location, piston skirt/liner clearance, and oil rheology. Numerical method and finite difference scheme have been used to define piston eccentricity and hydrodynamic pressure acting over the skirt.