The effect of lubricant rheology on piston skirt/cylinder contact for an internal combustion engine

Abstract

The sensitivity of internal combustion engine fric-tion to lubricant viscosity has been studied. The effect of oil viscosity on the hydrodynamic and boundary friction of the piston skirt has been discussed with various monograd lubricants. The average temperature is determined from the temperature of the liner using the Woschni correlation. The oil film viscosity is then estimated using the mean tem-perature of the oil film. This model takes into account the phenomenon of rupture and reformation of the oil film. The effect of viscosity on cavitation is also studied.