An investigation of piston ring groove wear in heavy duty diesel engines using statistically designed accelerated testing

Abstract

An interdisciplinary approach was taken to investigate the wear phenomenon occurring in the piston’ s aluminum second ring groove in heavy duty diesel engines. The wear mechanisms and aggravating engine conditions were identified; this information was used to develop an accelerated engine test that duplicated field incidents. A fractional factorial experiment was designed to investigate the effect that various piston and ring characteristics had on the problem. The analysis of the accelerated tests resulted in a hardware combination that eliminated the wear phenomenon.