Two-Dimensional Piston Ring Lubrication—Part II: Elastic Ring Consideration

A two-dimensional analysis for piston ring lubrication is presented by considering elastic deflection, EHL and cavitation effects. A numerical procedure is developed for solving hydrodynamic pressure and oil film, thickness shape due to ring deflection and elastic deformation. An elliptic cylinder liner and elastic ring are considered to investigate the circumferential flow effect which has been ignored in previous studies. Results for a typical automotive engine demonstrates that the elastic deflection and deformation of the piston ring have a tendency to reduce the gap caused by the noncircular cylinder. Under the high combustion chamber pressure, the minimum film thickness tends to have a uniform value in the circumferential direction. In turn, this provides a level of control of circumferential flow when the combustion chamber pressure is low. However, the elastic deflection of the piston ring always creates a potential for large blow-by around the piston ring gap area when the cylinder is non-circular. The two-dimensional analysis presented also reveals a reduction of piston ring oil film thickness due to the circumferential flow compared to one-dimensional analysis.