An experimental apparatus and an analytical model have been developed to investigate and determine the lubrication condition and frictional losses at the interface between a piston ring and cylinder liner. In order to obtain a solution for the lubrication condition between the piston ring and cylinder liner, the system of Reynolds and film thickness equations subject to boundary conditions were simultaneously solved. The effects of boundary and mixed lubrication conditions were implemented using the Greenwood -Tripp stochastic approach. The Elrod cavitation algorithm was used to investigate the effects of fluid rupture and reformation at the top and bottom dead centres. The experimental results indicate that the piston ring and liner experience all the different lubrication regimes (i.e. boundary, mixed, and hydrodynamic lubrication) during a stroke. A comparison between experimental and analytical results indicated that they are in good agreement and the analytical model developed for this study can capture the different lubrication regimes that the piston ring and liner experience.Abstract: An experimental apparatus and an analytical model have been developed to investigate and determine the lubrication condition and frictional losses at the interface between a piston ring and cylinder liner. In order to obtain a solution for the lubrication condition between the piston ring and cylinder liner, the system of Reynolds and film thickness equations subject to boundary conditions were simultaneously solved. The effects of boundary and mixed lubrication conditions were implemented using the Greenwood -Tripp stochastic approach. The Elrod cavitation algorithm was used to investigate the effects of fluid rupture and reformation at the top and bottom dead centres. The experimental results indicate that the piston ring and liner experience all the different lubrication regimes (i.e. boundary, mixed, and hydrodynamic lubrication) during a stroke. A comparison between experimental and analytical results indicated that they are in good agreement and the analytical model developed for this study can capture the different lubrication regimes that the piston ring and liner experience.

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The objectives of this paper are to numerically and experimentally investigate the potential for surface patterning and features to reduce friction at the piston ring cylinder liner interface. A test rig is used to experimentally measure the frictional loss throughout the stroke. A fully deterministic model is applied to provide explicit detail of the mixed lubrication phenomena near the dead points. The effectiveness of laser textured piston rings is examined both experimentally and numerically. Frictional performance of the surface-modified piston rings is shown to have improvement over OEM rings.