Theoretical Analysis of Piston-Ring Lubrication Part I—Fully Flooded Lubrication

Abstract

A one-dimensional analysis for lubrication between the piston ring and cylinder wall has been developed. A fully flooded inlet condition and axisymmetric geometry are considered. The piston ring is treated as a reciprocating, dynamically-loaded bearing with combined sliding and squeeze motion. A system of two nonlinear differential equations is used to model the lubrication including the Reynolds cavitation boundary condition. A numerical procedure is then developed to obtain the cyclic variations of film thickness, frictional force, power loss, and oil flow across the ring. Results are presented for a typical automotive engine. The effects of ring profile, ring tension, and engine speed are examined. It is shown that this analysis can be used to study the influence of ring design parameters in order to improve the design of the ring pack in reciprocating engines.