Analysis of oil film thickness on a piston ring of diesel engine: Effect of oil film temperature

This paper describes an analysis of oil film thickness on a piston ring of a diesel engine. The analysis of the oil film thickness has been performed by using Reynolds equation and unsteady, two-dimensional energy equation with heat generated from viscous dissipation. The mean oil film temperature was determined from the calculation of the temperature distribution in the oil field which was calculated using the energy equation. The oil film viscosity was then estimated using the mean oil film temperature. The effect of oil film temperature on the oil film thickness of a piston ring was examined. This model has been verified with published experimental results. Moreover the heat flow at ring and liner surfaces was examined. Results show that the oil film thickness could be calculated using the viscosity estimated from the mean oil film temperature. The calculated values generally agree with the measured values. For higher engine speed conditions, the maximum values of the calculated oil film thickness are larger than the measured values.