Estimation of Engine Frictional Power

P M V Subbarao
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
Understand and Analyze All means of Power Draining
Lubrication Regimes in An Engine
Different automotive components rely upon different modes of
lubrication to achieve acceptable performance, and each may
experience more than one regime of lubrication during a single
cycle.
Lubrication regimes in the engine
The key operating tribological parameter in a powertrain
system is the lubricant film thickness separating the
interacting component surfaces.
It is defined as the relative magnitude of the lubricant film
compared to the combined surface roughness of the two
surfaces, the so-called film thickness ratio, or parameter, .

Where h is the film thickness and o is the root mean square
(rms) surface roughness.
Challenges in Implementing Optimal Lubrication
Anatomy of Piston Assembly
Piston assembly
The heart of the reciprocating internal combustion engine is the
piston assembly, forming a critical linkage in transforming the
energy generated by combustion of the fuel and air mixture into
useful kinetic energy.
The piston assembly includes the ring pack, which is essentially a
series of metallic rings, the primary role of which is to maintain
an effective gas seal between the combustion chamber and the
crankcase.
The rings of the piston assembly, which form a labyrinth seal,
achieve this function by closely conforming to their grooves in
the piston and to the cylinder wall.
A secondary role of the piston ring is to transfer heat from the
piston into the cylinder wall, and thence into the coolant, and to
limit the amount of oil that is transported from the crankcase to
the combustion chamber.
Piston Assembly And Piston Ring Function From An
Internal Combustion Engine.
Geometry of the lubricated pair piston rings-cylinder wall
The mixed lubrication regime for the ring:
The total load acting in the ring in
radial direction due to the sum of the
hydrodynamic lubrication (F
H
) force
and the solid-to-solid
interactions (F
C
)along the asperities
of the surfaces.
C H R
F F F + =
The Total Friction Force
The total friction force F
f
, acting on the ring in tangential direction,
is the sum of the friction force between the asperities and the shear
force about the HDL regime:
N
a
: the number of asperities in contact,
A
Ci
: the area of contact of a single asperity i;

Ci
: the shear stress at the asperity contact i;
A
H
: the contact area of the ring in HDL regime and

H
: the shear stress of this component.
The Friction Coefficient
The friction coefficient f can be calculated by the following equation:
Both the components, F
C
and F
H
, show a strongly dependence on the
minimum nominal distance between the ring and the cylinder wall.
Parameters of Piston Assembly for Optimal Design
Gas pressure variations
Ring groove clearance
Groove flank profile
Ring flank groove interaction
Piston motion
Elastic and thermal deformation effects
Non-axisymmetric considerations including non-circular
bores
Ring and cylinder liner wear
Surface topography influences
Ring and piston mechanical design
Crevice volume
Cavitation considerations
Friction Force
p f
S f =

Friction force is directly proportional to piston velocity

(

= 1
sin
cos
sin
60
2 2
u
u
u
t
R
LN
S
p
(

= 1
sin
cos
sin
60
2 2
u
u
u
t

R
LN
f
f
where is a coefficient of friction that takes into account
the global frictional losses
Piston Assembly Friction
The cyclic integral of Friction work
2
2 2
1
sin
cos
sin
60

)

= =
u
u
u
t

R
LN
S f P
f p
( ) ( )
}
= u u

d P W
friction cycle,
( ) ( )
stroke stroke
friction cycle
mep
V
d P
V
W
F
}
= =
u u

,
Frictional Loss Vs Geometry & Speed of Engine
At a given engine speed, a longer stroke increases
engine friction and increases stress on the crankshaft.
Effect of Cylinder Geometry on Frictional Losses
Engine friction is affected by the stroke-to-bore ratio
because of two competing effects:
Crankshaft bearing friction and power-cylinder friction.
As the stroke-to-bore ratio decreases, the bearing friction
increases because the larger piston area transfers larger
forces to the crankshaft bearings.
However, the corresponding shorter stroke results in
decreased power-cylinder friction originating at the
ring/cylinder interface.
Piston Force Balance
Piston Side Thrust Load