Detailed Analysis of Oil Transport in the Piston Assembly of a Gasoline Engine

Abstract

More realistic and useful models of piston ring lubrication can only be achieved if there is a better understanding of the complex mechanisms by which oil flows in this region of the engine. The volume of oil in the piston assembly and its residence time in this high-temperature environment are crucial in determining the quantity and quality of oil available to lubricate the piston rings. Typically models of piston ring pack lubrication focus upon the oil flowing through the piston ring/cylinder interface. However, a number of additional oil flow paths and interactions with gas blow-by have been observed in the piston assembly. This paper presents a model that includes a number of such mechanisms and evaluates their influence on the lubrication of a piston ring pack from a typical automotive gasoline engine. The results indicate that such additional mechanisms are needed to give improved predictions of oil transport they highlight the relative importance of several of these mechanisms and help guide future research.